tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-169630082024-03-13T04:45:24.176-07:00TravelogueRishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-47596179296878018732008-11-12T08:57:00.000-08:002008-11-12T08:59:00.944-08:002008-10-17: Hyderabad, AP<span style="font-style: italic;">Where there's a friend, there's a way!</span><br /><br />Coming soon...Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-25159421918142216262008-11-05T08:06:00.000-08:002008-11-12T09:15:48.473-08:002008-09-02: Valparai, TN<span style="font-style: italic;">Journey of a person from being a motor-biking maniac to a motor-biking psycho, me.</span><br /><br />Its more than couple of months that I could finally sit down, trying to get a narration going on what happened to be a turning point in my biking aspirations. Going solo from Bangalore to Chennai, a distance of 380kms stop to stop on mostly amazing four lane highway, was to give way to something that even I would not have dreamed about a couple of years back.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Beginning</span><br /><br />Fifth September, Friday, happened to be the first birthday of Lipi, my youngest niece. I had got to be in Chennai for that. This meant that if I took leave from office for Thursday as well, I could take a small detour somewhere for two days (Wednesday being a holiday). There was a certain sense of uncertainty about it. Through a series of coincidences, the detour was finalized as Valparai, a small tea country about 100kms south of Coimbatore, and Eravikulam National Park, adjoining Valparai. Uncertain because it was 'planned' way in advance and as you would know by now, planned trips rarely ever worked for me. It however nearly worked out this time...<br /><br />The day had been happening so far. A series of professional meetings that would have happened later in the week were held today. Those which could not, were pushed to next week. Call it destiny, I was busy answering calls till 8 o'clock the evening and was out on my way at 9.15pm.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Veerappan Territory</span><br /><br />Earlier, googling for Valparai had me stumble upon <a href="http://www.mistymusings.com/">Shriram</a>'s blog. What started off as a set of queries about Valparai quickly spurred up into an effort of finding the best possible route for Bangalore - Coimbatore stage. He was a native of Coimbatore and seemed to have a very good idea of roads around the city. In the end however, all effort came to a naught when a change in my program mandated me to take the Mysore route. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfbwCODAlI/AAAAAAAAMS4/6U_RzKdmFs4/s576/IMG_0095.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfbwCODAlI/AAAAAAAAMS4/6U_RzKdmFs4/s576/IMG_0095.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Following <a href="http://kalyanvarma.net/">Kalyan</a>'s suggestion, I hit back NH-209 (Bangalore - Dindigul) at Chamrajnagar, beyond Kollegal owing to bad roads between Bangalore and Chamrajnagar. This meant that I had about 40 more kms to cover.<br /><br />If it was the pounding rain before Mysore that had slowed me down, it was the very absence of road surface that was a problem post Chamrajnagar. This Veerappan (late Sandalwood mafia) territory was void of any visible human population, and apparently roads! However, as soon as I crossed over into Tamil Nadu, I could hardly believe that I was on the same road as just a while back. I simply had to come back, make a quick stop and click <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfbyGhCWzI/AAAAAAAAMTA/YGiXz2HRYK8/s576/IMG_0096.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfbyGhCWzI/AAAAAAAAMTA/YGiXz2HRYK8/s576/IMG_0096.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>the marked difference in quality of road right at the border of two states. Only, I could not use my tripod due to lack of time (it is not advisable to stop for a long time in wild). Just before I hit Sathy (Satyamangalam), a small ghat section was encountered. It was time to take the much needed break (only two till then - Ramnagaram and Nanjungud). The view was amazing, with the lights of Sathy glittering down below and the twinkling stars studded in now clear sky.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Good Morning</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The first rays of Sun hit me little beyond Coimbatore, a while after I crossed NH-47 (Salem - Kochi - Kanyakumari). Road had been good so far (after entering TN) and <span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfb1lRJQcI/AAAAAAAAMTI/tBTgytF-dLw/s576/IMG_0101.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfb1lRJQcI/AAAAAAAAMTI/tBTgytF-dLw/s576/IMG_0101.jpg" alt="KA - TN Border" border="0" /></a></span>things didn't change once I took the deviation in Pollachi, towards Valparai. Just as a mile stone indicated that Valparai was 42kms away, I noticed a billboard depicting the Nilgiri Thar, an avid cliff loiterer and TN's state animal. A break here, and I was away again to be stopped a few kms down, just beyond the Aliyar Dam, at a check-post by a friendly officer. What came next was the most enchanting view of plains and Aliyar Dam down below.<br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A Costly Miss<br /></span><span><br />It took me a while before I reached Valparai. The route till the 38th hair-pin (yes, there were in total 40 hair-pin bends in total!) was just too good, and may I say, green</span><span>. As I negotiated the last few turns, the landscape dramatically transformed into a blanket of tea velvet. Now I knew as why this place </span><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfcc7vhe3I/AAAAAAAAMTw/vugyTlKrwH8/s576/IMG_0130.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfcc7vhe3I/AAAAAAAAMTw/vugyTlKrwH8/s576/IMG_0130.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span>was called a tea country...<br />As a entered Valparai, the first thing in mind was to inquire abou</span><span>t the entry procedure in Eravikulam and Indira Gandhi National Parks. Couple of not so good news followed. The first one, that bikes were not allowed inside NP was kind of expected, and the reason behind me dropping the idea of venturing into Eravikulam NP. The bigger blow was that I could not take entry pass for Indira Gandhi NP in Valparai; I was supposed to take it from its office around 30kms away, on the route that I'd just covered. This meant, no wild creatures in my collection, especially no Nilgiri Thar :(</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Exploring Valparai</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span>As such, there was nothing much in the town, in fact not </span><span>even a choice in terms of restaurants! There was </span><span>this small hotel near bus stand that needed some ef</span><span>fort to be found. After gobbling down a Masala </span><span>Dosa and an Onion Dosa, I was out agai</span><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfd1J9dq0I/AAAAAAAAMUQ/CoqmCCMAWEE/s576/IMG_0157.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfd1J9dq0I/AAAAAAAAMUQ/CoqmCCMAWEE/s576/IMG_0157.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span>n for the next leg. It would be criminal if I don't mention the most delicious item that I had at this place, TEA :D<br />The target was Sholayar Dam, supposed to be the second biggest masonry dam in Asia (I think I've visited the biggest one as well, Nagarjuna Sagar Dam in Andhra Pradesh ;)). The roads were all single and though not strewed by potholes, they did not exactly present me a smooth ride. Who cared! Quite often, I </span><span>would stop over,</span><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfeMbXCalI/AAAAAAAAMUg/RGYJtvtnro8/s576/IMG_0164.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfeMbXCalI/AAAAAAAAMUg/RGYJtvtnro8/s576/IMG_0164.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span> sometimes to just gaze at streams that flown by, or the landscape in general. One of the stops presented me something different. Just as I was about to start after capturing a landscape, I happened to look </span><span>back in my rear view mirror. Its content was too serene to describe, so added a 1000 words to my camera's memory - a snap :)</span><br /><span>After a while, I </span><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfeR3uYNmI/AAAAAAAAMUo/uJFJWW0Yo_I/s576/IMG_0172.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfeR3uYNmI/AAAAAAAAMUo/uJFJWW0Yo_I/s576/IMG_0172.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span>could see the back waters of Sholayar Dam, though as it turned out, the dam was still some distance away. Once I reached the Dam, I had a decision to take - whether to continue on this road for 50 more kms or take a U turn. Athirampally Falls (near Chalakudi in Kerela) waited for my third visit. I'd been there twice before with my family. After some dilemma, it was a U turn back; mind prevailing over heart. Coming back to Valparai town, it took little time to find lodging. As I had a late lunch and went back to hotel, the bright whites in sky had given way to dark looming cloud. What followed was an optimal end to my otherwise 36 hour day. For me, night started at 6pm.</span><br /><span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Next Day</span><br /><br />As the morning star shown b</span><span>rightly through window, I lazily glanced at my cell. It was 7am and time to get up. </span><span>13 hours of sleep had done wonders to my body. One hour later, I was on my way to Nallamudi view point. My Pulsar had already done more than</span><span> 550 kms since it left Bangalore; it was time for its second refill. </span><span>The petrol pump lady was generous enough to warn me that I needed to constantly ask for my destination, read Nallamudi,</span><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMffxVe3wXI/AAAAAAAAMVk/T20nyoVd5iM/s512/IMG_0191.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMffxVe3wXI/AAAAAAAAMVk/T20nyoVd5iM/s512/IMG_0191.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span> lest I wanted to loose my way and end up somewhere else.</span><span> </span><span>As luck wo</span><span>ul</span><span>d</span><span> have it, I did take a wrong way br</span><span>iefly; not that I </span><span>never asked folks </span><span>on the way, rather neither of us could understand</span><span> eac</span><span>h other. The 'lost' way however was not bad</span><span> either. In fact, I noticed one of those </span><span>haunted movie huts, deserted out there, </span><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfg7OK3l5I/AAAAAAAAMV8/5mpsU2LC9e8/s576/IMG_0204.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfg7OK3l5I/AAAAAAAAMV8/5mpsU2LC9e8/s576/IMG_0204.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span>over looking a lake with a distinct over growth snuggl</span><span>ing it in!<br />After covering some good and some not so good roads, I was finally there. </span><span>This place was bang in the middle of a tea estate, completely hidden from outside and</span><span> well camouflaged so as to send me again hunting in the wrong direction some 200 meters before it. The effort w</span><span>as more than worth it finally. An amazing panorama waited for me to be captured, and I readily obliged. A perfect place for a night camp. </span><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfhJKVZO0I/AAAAAAAAMWM/dAVqZOHQFj4/s576/IMG_0213.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfhJKVZO0I/AAAAAAAAMWM/dAVqZOHQFj4/s576/IMG_0213.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span>I could see a number of waterfalls, big and small cascading down on the o</span><span>ther side of valley. It was time to relish one of nature's best </span><span>servings.</span><span> I just stayed t</span><span>here as time came to a stop; the signal going permanently red. This meant that</span><span> I had little time t</span><span>o go beyon</span><span>d this place in this direction and cut down the other view point further ahead - it actu</span><span>ally didn't matter. That is something that I would not do deliberately this time;</span><span> leaving few places so that I can </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfhV9LUAKI/AAAAAAAAMWc/NJuNIutK2UM/s512/IMG_0219.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfhV9LUAKI/AAAAAAAAMWc/NJuNIutK2UM/s512/IMG_0219.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span>come back for second time..<br />I however didn't miss the serene Koolangal river that flow</span><span>ed by on my way back. </span><span>Finally, it was time to head towards the two lesser known </span><span>dams, Lower and </span><span>Upper Nirar Dams. To be frank, the dams actually didn't impress me one bit, though the route w</span><span>as scenic. May be, this had something to do with Nallamudi... Still, something that can easily be given a miss. However, going towards Chinnakallar (little beyond Upper Nirar Dam) wasn't c</span><span>ompletel</span><span>y a waste.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Down Pour</span><br /><br /></span><span>The primary idea was to visit the</span><span> Chinnakal</span><span>lar waterfalls. I was told that Chinnakallar is the second wettest place in India, after Cherapunji in Meghalaya </span><span>(not sure as I think Agumbe in <span style="font-style: italic;">namma </span>Karnataka has overtaken Cherapunji in the past few years). As I reached what looked like a bus stop, </span><span>I found a sudden dead end. </span><span>There was absolutely no way out, except for a typical stone and mud way steep up the hill leading into a private estate. </span><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfiFYmkO2I/AAAAAAAAMW0/JV9P52LEMUc/s576/IMG_0233.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfiFYmkO2I/AAAAAAAAMW0/JV9P52LEMUc/s576/IMG_0233.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span>There were few huts around and I decided to finally knock</span><span> the </span><span>doors and ask for directions. Again, shocked! Not a single soul around! No one in the </span><span>huts next to the bus stop and no one in the </span><span>one up the hill. To add, a strong drizzle came on. As I saw some more huts beyond a small stream and decided to check them out as well, a gentleman crossed me from the opposite direction. He confirmed that I was indeed on right track and about 300 meters from the falls. I again confirmed the same from a person in the hut (it </span><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfiQ1SjqRI/AAAAAAAAMW8/8ZmrFN0kOhI/s512/IMG_0235.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfiQ1SjqRI/AAAAAAAAMW8/8ZmrFN0kOhI/s512/IMG_0235.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span>was actually a post office!). The waterfalls was also a damp squi</span><span>b, but the rope bridge across just provided that rustic look. As I clicked quickly to capture the location (quick so as to avoid the camera from getting wet) and headed back, the rain intensified. </span><span>As if to prove a point or two, rain had really taken off in a big way. </span><span>So much so that visibility had gone below 100 meters. with big dense drops falling.</span><span> </span><span>I had to finally take a break at a bus stop next to Upper Nirar Dam to get into my proper rain gear</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span><span> I found the same gentleman, who</span><span>m I had met near Chinnakallar PO. He was waiting there along with few of his acquaintances for the rain to stop. He asked me about my whereabouts and as usual, there were few eyeballs ready to jump out of eye sockets ;)<br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Return Gift<br /><br /></span><span>As I bid them good bye and proceeded little further, I was caught by surprise. This was not a goat, but the Nilgiri Thar on the steep slope about 10 meters from</span><span> me! Not sure if they are maniacs about clinging</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfiWuEm7BI/AAAAAAAAMXE/s8Ek9s6f9oU/s576/IMG_0237.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfiWuEm7BI/AAAAAAAAMXE/s8Ek9s6f9oU/s576/IMG_0237.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span> to such gradients and not feeding on the same green grass available on plain land 20</span><span> meters away! The only glitch was that I could not shoot this guy; it was raining just to heavily for the camera to be </span><span>taken out. I was starting to get hungry as I rode back towards Valparai. Little beyond a right turn that I t</span><span>ook towards </span>Balaji Temple (you can avoid circling through Valparai; this is a good shortcut), I found an empty bus stop (lot of bus stops this area and very decent public transport). I had few left over moffins (that I was carrying from <span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfiheFPusI/AAAAAAAAMXM/ek-rlyIk2F0/s576/IMG_0239.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfiheFPusI/AAAAAAAAMXM/ek-rlyIk2F0/s576/IMG_0239.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span>Bangalore as 'sankat mochan' or life saver) that was happy to gobble'em up as what turned into my luncheon. Couple of villagers got down from a bus, looked at me having my 'lunch', gave queer looks, and left. Not the rain; it was persistent. This meant that the very purpose of me taking turn towards Balaji's temple got defeated. The temple was already closed for the day (it closes down at 12:30pm as I was informed in Valparai). Continuous rain meant that my camera remained indoors. Finally, I decided to give the renowned 'Tunnel View', not far from temple and the motive behind taking <span style="font-style: italic;">the </span>turn, a pass. "There's always a next time".<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Down the Ghats<br /><br /></span><span>2:10pm. As </span><span>you</span><span>'d have it, the rain stopped as soon as I left Valparai behind. No looking back, it was time to move on. The ghats ahead provided a much different view. Now, I could associate meaning to the warning boards that I'd seen while coming up, "Caution, Mist Zone". There was this lazy aura that surrounded the area. </span><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfixRGYMCI/AAAAAAAAMXU/5psawazNN8w/s576/IMG_0246.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfixRGYMCI/AAAAAAAAMXU/5psawazNN8w/s576/IMG_0246.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span>There I was, cutting right through this living dream, into the hair pin bends down the hill. </span><span>As I descended down, I could see the very 9th hair-pin turn where I'd stopped over while coming up. It was too good for me to give a pass. Twelfth hair-pin was where I stopped finally, to take a break and get my camera out of its box. As it turned out, this was the last time it was out for that day; Once I reached Monkey Falls (it is right at the beginning of the ghats, not far from the check-post while coming up), I was surprised to see the amount of water that flowed in. I had given it a pass due to lack of water a day before and here I was - a bit too much in terms of spray and yet again it screamed out, </span><span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfi39LEXgI/AAAAAAAAMXc/MfLJugQAy9Y/s512/IMG_0247.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfi39LEXgI/AAAAAAAAMXc/MfLJugQAy9Y/s512/IMG_0247.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span>"For your eyes only!" Incidentally, I met the same policeman manning the check-post. He could immediately recognize me. "How was Valparai? Wasn't it good! On your way to Chennai now? Be careful, its more than 600 kms from here. Where are you taking night halt, take it in Salem....." Lots of enthusiasm and lots of concern, something missing in a 'general' policeman these days... I convinced him that I'll drive safe, and was off to ...Chennai, via Coimbatore -> Salem -> Chinna Salem -> Villupuram -> Pondicherry -> Mahabalipuram route. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />The Last Leg<br /><br /></span><span>Little more than 100 kms from Valparai, I took my first tea break. What came back alive was my Airtel cell phone; Valparai </span><span>only has BSNL (GSM) and Reliance (CDMA) cell phone towers, so any Airtel guy can rest assure that he'll not be disturbed (even if he wants) by a ringing cell phone in Valparai. It was time to update my family about my where abouts, something that has now become customary during nearly all pit stops of a solo riding journey. The road till Salem was expected to be 'not so good', as the four laning work is going on currently. I was really looking forward to reaching Salem, and enjoy the two lane driving. Weel, as it turned out, it was not the case - that route, till Chennai was also in faor laning process :(<br />As soon as I hit Villupuram little beyond 3am, I was more than happy to take a deviation towards right. A sign said, "Pondicherry, 38kms". That was some relief, no more traffic and more important of</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfi6WnyEOI/AAAAAAAAMXk/FYU--CX163s/s512/IMG_0250.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfi6WnyEOI/AAAAAAAAMXk/FYU--CX163s/s512/IMG_0250.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span> all, no dust bowls! 30 minutes later, I found myself near the Gandhi statue on Pondy's Marine Drive. As I soaked in a typical humid air, I just wondered - only a fortnight back, on my family trip from Chennai to Pondy, I'd uttered, "East Coast Road (ECR) is <span style="font-style: italic;">something</span>, some day, I'll love to be on it, on my bike...". I was also in time for a sun rise in Mamlapuram, errr... Mahabalipuram! But as it turned out, I was there a bit too early. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfjDdifrUI/AAAAAAAAMXs/Nh8p-djwL2U/s576/IMG_0252.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 288px; height: 216px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_qlVvuj--v_Q/SMfjDdifrUI/AAAAAAAAMXs/Nh8p-djwL2U/s576/IMG_0252.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span>One hour wait was just too much. 143 kms, till my sister's place near Medavakkam from Pondy sea front, done just under 100 minutes, not to forget two 5 minute breaks - </span><span>two lane highway driving at its best. I was knocking at my sister's place just as I </span><span>turned my hea</span><span>dlights off, at 5 to 6. It was Lipi's (sister's kid) B'day and her <span style="font-style: italic;">Mama </span>was on time :D</span><br /><span>When I reached Bangalore back after spending couple of days in Chennai, my odometer read 647 kms, presenting a poker face for its limitation to get reset to 000 kms after 999.9! Rest of the photos can be found <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rishi.choudhary/20080902ValparaiTN">here</a>.<br /></span>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-61627253475724001252008-04-12T10:58:00.000-07:002008-04-15T21:46:17.987-07:002008-04-06: Yercaud, TN<p style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">All my plans for a good drive over the long weekend (celebrating Kannada New Year, ‘Ugadi’, on road, as I did for New Year 2005 – 06) had gone to the cleaners. I could count a few reasons on fingers…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <ol style="margin-top: 0in; color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">I had some pending task for Saturday, so could have no way left on Friday night.<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">None of my two partners in crime, Abdulla (office commitments) or Azmi (@home, in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Rampur</st1:place></st1:city>) were available.</span></li></ol><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >I thought of making the best out of the remaining weekend by inviting all my cousins at my place. We had a gala time until I burped out my initial plans to Gaurav, the 'little' one ;)<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span> <p style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“<span>मेरा</span> <span>एराविकुलम</span> <span>नही</span> <span>तो</span> <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">बेलम गुफा </st1:placename></st1:place><span>जाने</span> <span>का</span> p</span><span style="font-size:100%;">rogram <span>था</span> <span>इस</span> <span>हफ्ते</span>|”<br />(“I was thinking of visiting Eravikulam (near Munnar, Kerela) or <st1:placename st="on">Belum</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Caves</st1:placetype> (<st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Kurn</st1:city></st1:place></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">ool</st1:city></st1:place>, AP) this weekend.”)</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p> </o:p>“<span>तब</span> <span>क्या</span> <span>हुआ</span> <span><span></span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span>भैया</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">, <span>गए</span> <span>क्यों</span> <span>नही</span>?”</span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;">(“Then why didn’t you go </span><span style="font-size:100%;">big brother?”)</span></p> <p style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“उम्म… <span>एराविकुलम</span> <span>के</span> <span>लिए</span> <span>समय</span> <span>नही</span> <span>है</span>, 500km <span>पड़ेगा</span> <span>लगभग</span> <span>एक</span> <span>तरफ़</span> <span>से</span>| <span>शायद</span> <span>बेलम </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;">गुफा </span><span style="font-size:100%;"> <span>जा</span> <span>सकते</span> <span>हैं</span>, <span>क्या</span> <span>बोलता</span> <span>है</span>? <span>या</span> <span>फिर</span> <span>येरकौड़</span>, <span>आज़मी</span> <span>का</span> <span>मन</span> <span>पसंद</span>?”<br />(“Umm… don’t have time for Eravikulam, it's about 500kms one way. May be <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Belum</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Caves</st1:placetype></st1:place>,</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> which is less than 300kms. What say? Or Yercaud, Azmi’s favorite?”)<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">“<span>तब</span> </span><span style="font-size:100%;">येरकौड</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> <span>चलते</span> <span>हैं</span>, <span>लेकिन</span> <span>पता</span> <span>चलने</span> <span>पर</span> <span>आज़मी</span> <span>भैया</span> <span>बहुत</span> मारेंगे..!”<br />(“Ok, let’s go to Yercaud, but Azmi will </span><span style="font-size:100%;">hit us when </span><span style="font-size:100%;">he comes to know about it..!”)<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">And true it was. Yercaud had been in the wish list of Azmi for a long time. Most of our recent trips had started with a mention of Yercaud but canceled each </span><span style="font-size:100%;">time as it would n</span><span style="font-size:100%;">ot qualify for it's proximity to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Bangalore</st1:place></st1:city> (less than 25</span><span style="font-size:100%;">0kms).</span><br /></p><p style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Start</span> </p><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > We could not start before 1AM as Gaurav had to go back to his place to</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > collect his jacket and</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_umkhyzFxI/AAAAAAAAItQ/tDEi_bVAjmA/s288/IMG_2754.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_umkhyzFxI/AAAAAAAAItQ/tDEi_bVAjmA/s288/IMG_2754.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > other necessary stuff. As we cr</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >ossed Electronic City, my bike's fuel tank went into reserve. As planned, we made our fir</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >st stop in Hosur, to take full advantage of cheaper fuel (Petrol is ~ Rs2 less in Tamil Nadu). It was also time to change guard. </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >Though this was not the first time that</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > Gaurav had come on a</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > night drive (we had earlier taken up</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > Chamundi Hills, overlooking Mysore), h</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >e was yet to drive at night. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_umpByzFzI/AAAAAAAAItg/EOqvUJXpA_Q/s288/IMG_2758.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_umpByzFzI/AAAAAAAAItg/EOqvUJXpA_Q/s288/IMG_2758.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >The 4 laned NH-7 from Hosur till Krishnagiri presented a nice platform for his maiden drive. His lack of experience clearly showed initially, but then, </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >he took my preaching rather seriously a</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >nd made me feel more comfortable by the time we reached the toll gate before Krishnagiri - a distance o</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >f 52kms done in 45 minutes, not bad!<br /><br /></span> <p face="georgia" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">Inter'cop'tions</p><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >We took a couple of tea breaks in between Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri. As if turned out, this was the worst stretch of road for the entire journey (not to forget</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > the little 'under development' stretch little later, after descending the ghats and before Salem). </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >It was around midway to Dharmapuri when we were stopped by cops of a local police station. There were four of them, all</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > drunk till brim and maybe beyond. It </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >was an achievement that they were still moving around (may be 'coz of practice!!) One of the</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >m straight away came asking for 'origi</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >nal' RC book. </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >Curse his bad luck, I always make a point to carry the same on all my trips. The next line was as blunt as one could ever get - 'Give us money if you want to continue, else we detain you for being decoits..!' I thought this happene</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >d on</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >ly in AP (I had faced a similar situation at AP-Karnatak</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >a border while returning from Tirupati). </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/SATI2I62nvI/AAAAAAAAJA0/-voszdEtOxA/s288/IMG_2763.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/SATI2I62nvI/AAAAAAAAJA0/-voszdEtOxA/s288/IMG_2763.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >And people say that folks from Bihar are corrupt! After a long dialogs, we somehow got ourselves free from their clutches, and moved forward!</span> <span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >The journey till Salem would have been rather eventless but for the cloud cover that suddenly</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > engulfed us just before the little ghat section before Salem. The visibility got reduced to less than 100m making our drive little more than a crawl. No one was complaining though, for the camera came out to capture the dense white blanket...<br /><br /></span> <p face="georgia" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">The Climb</p><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >As we took the way up the hills, leaving Salem behind, </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >we cou</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >ld see a typical scene. No, I'm not talking about the scenic mines (yes, mines can be scenic sometimes!) </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_unORyzF_I/AAAAAAAAIvA/6nzcO43FhGM/s288/IMG_2790.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_unORyzF_I/AAAAAAAAIvA/6nzcO43FhGM/s288/IMG_2790.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >and the city itself or for that matter, the Sun rising behind the rocks. It was rather to do with the localites who had turned up in huge numbers just to walk</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >/jog up and down the road leading to Yercaud. On further observation, we noticed tha</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >t there were lots of monkeys too, but only ti</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >ll the small temple around 5kms from base of climb. As we continued beyond the temple, we encountered the second of twenty hair-pin bends to Yercaud. This came after relatively long time; the first had come just at the base of hill. As we negotiated the fifteenth turn, </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_uoZByzGWI/AAAAAAAAIx8/hbb-ZeTx1FQ/s288/IMG_2844.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_uoZByzGWI/AAAAAAAAIx8/hbb-ZeTx1FQ/s288/IMG_2844.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >we entered coffee territory. All the while, we kept our eyes on what looked like a view point of some kind (we later learnt that this was the 'Lady's Seat'). In total, it took us around an hour's time to reach Yercaud from Salem. Our camera battery had run out (yes, </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >I could not charge them in time :() by the time we reached the lake area, the center of to</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >wn. The little shopping extravaganza that followed meant that we were fully equipped for the next leg of trip, geared up with all a</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >menities - from mineral water and toothpaste to a pair of Duracell batteries! Well something else too, information on places of interest and visit for this trip ;)<br /><br /></span><p style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pagoda Point (Gent's Seat)</span></p><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >As we reached Pagoda Point, </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >a pleasant surprise was awaiting us. Benefits of keeping expectations low had paid rich dividends. This place was just spectacular! </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_unRxyzGAI/AAAAAAAAIvI/gAbbl6loHAo/s288/IMG_2797.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_unRxyzGAI/AAAAAAAAIvI/gAbbl6loHAo/s288/IMG_2797.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >With the morning sun shining on silken cloud, we could see the pagoda shaped hills in distance - reason behind the name of this view point. We took our time to get freshened up and make ourselves a bit more presentable to camera (the night drive was otherwise having its effect felt). Once ou</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >t of box, the camera just never went back till we were here. In the process, we also met a small group of people. It was a privilege to shoot them in one frame; they were meeting after a gap of more than 25 years..!<br /><br /></span><p face="georgia" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">Lady's Seat</p><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >After a filling breakfast comprising </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >Onion <span style="font-style: italic;">Dosa </span>and tea, we set of towards the </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >other side of this hill station, Lady's Seat. </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >The weather was on our side. </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >We could see the entire city of Salem from here, </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_uoPRyzGUI/AAAAAAAAIxs/FRvpNNGIfkE/s288/IMG_2839.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; height: 320px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_uoPRyzGUI/AAAAAAAAIxs/FRvpNNGIfkE/s288/IMG_2839.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >not to forget the hair-pin road that we took to reach Yercaud. </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >It was time to sit back and soak ourselves in nature's bout - one between the hills </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > standing tall </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >and clouds rising above them for conquer. We found this place conducive to making calls (alas we had some cell phone signal at a view point) and made full use of it. W</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >hile Gaurav fixed up a lunch appointment with Rashmi (his cousin) in Salem, I took liberty of updating my parents of my exact coordinates. All good things come to an end and so did our stay at this place.., as we turned back and head</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >ed towards the ta</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >llest view point of all around Yercaud...<br /><br /></span><p face="georgia" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">Servarayan Temple and View Point</p><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >After putting the first gear briefly, we reached this place, and greeted by a guy collecting 'development fee' of five bucks per motorcycle. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_uokxyzGaI/AAAAAAAAIyc/mtTyevsGL-M/s288/IMG_2853.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_uokxyzGaI/AAAAAAAAIyc/mtTyevsGL-M/s288/IMG_2853.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >That way, it was the only place </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >were we paid any kind of entry fee. The cave temple was out of bounds, thanks to some <span style="font-style: italic;">homa </span>happening there. We were not complaining. This place confirmed the small piece of information that we got at the beginning of the day - each of the view points in Yercaud present completely different set of pictures. Some more clicks in the camera and we had to turn back; the sky was not exactly looking safe with dark clouds hovering, threatening us of heavy rain on our way back to Bangalore.<br /><br /></span><p face="georgia" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">Kiliyur Water Falls</p><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >We were on our way back when suddenly Gaurav shouted, "Bro, there's a waterfall <span style="font-style: italic;">that</span> way..!"</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > Confirming the presence of some water in falls</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_upcByzGmI/AAAAAAAAI0A/eEiUEjZz_To/s288/IMG_2872.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_upcByzGmI/AAAAAAAAI0A/eEiUEjZz_To/s288/IMG_2872.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > with a corn vendor besides the town lake (not to forget, bargaining a couple of baked corns for ourselves), we did a 'U' turn and took the road towards Kiliyur Waterfalls. </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >Its around 3.5kms from the lake and one needs to park his vehicle about half a km before the falls. </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >Then, there's a descent of about 300m. </span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >One needs to be careful on</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_up0ByzGqI/AAAAAAAAI0o/wszcXfMwuTo/s288/IMG_2883.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_up0ByzGqI/AAAAAAAAI0o/wszcXfMwuTo/s288/IMG_2883.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" > this slippery trail, barbed fencing at few places not helping the cause. Water was a bit less to our liking, not matching the effort we'd put in reaching this place. The view of valley fr</span><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-family:georgia;" >om here was however another good one, not to forget, unique. Once back up, it was time to finally bid Yercaud goodbye. The delay of an hour was updated to Rashmi and off we went, rolling down the hill, taking couple of breaks to capture the last glimpses of 'Poor Man's Ooty' - a misnomer according to me!<br /><br /></span><p face="georgia" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">Way Back</p><p face="georgia" style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);" class="MsoNormal">We were back in Salem by 1PM. After a bit of confusion for HP petrol pump at the end of 'Five Road' (for those who don't know, there is an HP petrol pump at either end of Five Road in Salem), we finally got hold of Rashmi. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_uqLRyzGxI/AAAAAAAAI1g/g6AGe_pPt24/s288/IMG_2894.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/rishi.choudhary/R_uqLRyzGxI/AAAAAAAAI1g/g6AGe_pPt24/s288/IMG_2894.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>A satisfying lunch followed the rendezvous. Around couple of hours later, we were trying our level best to beat the heat with gulps of Coke and Pepsi, 50kms on the way back towards Bangalore. Fatigue and dust not withstanding, Gaurav drove for most of the stretch, barring about 40kms, till Hosur. As we switched the driving seat, the sun set over this lake on the periphery of city. 7:30PM and we were back in Bangalore, covering a total of 497 to be precise... It was time to slip into our swimming trunks and hit the pool for the the next hour and half, relax and reflect on the trip... Snapshots of the trip can be found <a href="http://picasaweb.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/06042008YercaudTN">here</a>.<br /></p><p style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-4597865892366185542008-03-09T09:21:00.000-07:002008-04-01T11:23:40.638-07:002008-03-08: Dodda Betta, TN<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >This one is coming after painfully long time. I was shocked to see that the last time I had put up an entry on this blog was on 5th of August last year. This made me sit back and think of about what had gone 'wrong'. There were few observations:</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><ol style="font-family:georgia;"><li><span style="font-size:100%;">I had missed an entry for the car trip to Jog Falls (with Azmi, Gabbar and Ticklu)</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">I had not gone anywhere else after that and hence no new posts.</span></li><li><span style="font-size:100%;">I was a bit too occupied to even come back</span><span style="font-size:100%;"> and check my Travelogue!</span></li></ol><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >It was time to sanitize things...</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Copy 'n' Paste S</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >tart</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >The start to this episode was identical to that of Malnad Trip. It all started of with a chain of mail until I was at Azmi's place. With Nandi Hills out of contention and Gopalaswami Betta being recently graced by Azmi, the options were limited. Either visit my Sis in Chennai, or pay tribute to a plac</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >e that was yet to be analyzed in detail. 12:15AM and we had finally zeroed upon the tallest of all</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > p</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >eaks within Deccan Platatue - Dodda Betta.</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Fighting the Biting Cold!</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >12:30AM and we were on our way. The month of March had given us enough confidence in our jackets to pull through the night comfortably. This was probably the single biggest pothole that we overlooked! Even before we could hit Mysore Road, truth dawned in the middle of night - we were up against some seriously low temperatures and jaw rattling chill.</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >As the two of us took turns with control of Azmi's relatively new Pulsar150 DTSI (compared </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >to my antique 1st Gen 'original' P150), lookout for </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >chaiwalas</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > continued.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EmrxyzEyI/AAAAAAAAIf4/T-YilsVq3So/DSC00007.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EmrxyzEyI/AAAAAAAAIf4/T-YilsVq3So/DSC00007.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > There was another problem that didn't help </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >much- the new Pulsar's dreaded head-light beam (As much as I adore Bajaj for impro</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >ving upon other features like shock absorbers, I detest the</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >m for making a mockery of a stupendous head light, giving way to all looks and no performance!). It was adjusted for solo riding, and n</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >ow with a pillion </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >on, we had no way to adjust the beam, save count the leaves of trees on either side of </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >road! The first thing I was su</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >pposed to do after getting back was to f</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >ind out the feasibility of beam adjustment... (I later found that its there on the right l</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >o</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >wer side, you need a long screw driver to reach it for the first time). After the customary photo shoot at Mysore Palace, we moved on towards Gundalpet... </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Good Morning Bandipur</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >After spending about 45 minutes at a </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >dhaba</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > in Gundalpet,</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > it was around 6AM that we closed</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > upon Bandipur National Park. As morning sun</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EpuhyzFtI/AAAAAAAAInk/v5QLdUNFaDw/DSC00035.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EpuhyzFtI/AAAAAAAAInk/v5QLdUNFaDw/DSC00035.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > greeted us, we snaked</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > around the pot holes as Gopalaswami Betta disappeared on our right side. As we entere</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >d BNP, there w</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >as more</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > wild life in store for me than in my earlier</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > dedicated trip to the NP. I was however not knowing that the return journey would be even better.</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Negotiating the 36 Hair-Pin Bends</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >As we crossed the Karnataka state border into</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > Mudumalai NP, we were greeted at the check post. Result – we wen</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >t ahead poorer by 10 </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >bucks! </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Around 5-6 kms ahead was the main Mudumalai Jn where the road forks into two- taking</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > right w</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >ill take </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >one to Gadalur. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EoLRyzFVI/AAAAAAAAIkU/m2siyVCIgCs/DSC00061.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EoLRyzFVI/AAAAAAAAIkU/m2siyVCIgCs/DSC00061.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >We went the other way, towards Kalahatti Ghats. This route is shorter (and better in terms of surface quality) than the former route by almost 38kms, more than 100% (Ooty is 74kms via Gudalur and 36kms via Kalahatti). T</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >he first 15kms after taking left were similar to the road in Bandipur, with the road meandering through the forest. If it were my first drive on this stretch, I would have wondered about when the actual accent would start; Ooty </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >is around 2000 meters above in terms of altitude compared to the base of Kalahatti Ghat.</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > This probably tells you something about the gradient </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >that was to follow. Azm</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >i was alre</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >ady getting a bit impatient when the climb finally begun. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EodhyzFgI/AAAAAAAAIls/X9bwVwV4gKk/DSC00071.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EodhyzFgI/AAAAAAAAIls/X9bwVwV4gKk/DSC00071.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >I was fully aware that this was his first ‘drive through the night’ trip on a bik</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >e and that he was really weary at this point of time. We had hardly negotiated the first few of the 36 hair-pin bends that we fund a culvert. He literally</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > jumped off the bike to occupy one of the sides as I pulled up. A clean flat surface with the sun showing down brightly was way to luring to be missed! We took another break at the 20<sup>th</sup> hair-pin, for which the air-cooled engine of our bike was more than happy. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >As we neared Ooty, the climb had become so steep that I had to put the first gear as frequently as 5<sup>th</sup> on leveled ground. 12.5BHP of power was proving just adequate enough to pull our f</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >rames through!</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Finally, Ooty</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">By the time we reached Ooty, </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">my pillion made a humble request </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">– “Can we take rest for a couple of hours before</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> proceeding any further?”</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EooxyzFmI/AAAAAAAAImg/0-1-YlykBDY/DSC00076.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EooxyzFmI/AAAAAAAAImg/0-1-YlykBDY/DSC00076.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Request was granted, but not before stuffing ourselves with <i style="">aalu</i> and onion <span style="font-style: italic;">parotas</span>! Once done, we took up a hotel room and hit</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> the sack straight away. The two hour doze was really helpful. We started the next phase of mission after checking out around 12:30pm.</span></span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Rendezvous with the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Baap</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > of all </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Betta</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >s</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">As I took the pillion seat, I tried to make full use of it. The camera went clicking and clicking; a lot of good snaps would have come, but for the bad</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> roads to end them all as shaky as ever :(. </span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EnzRyzFGI/AAAAAAAAIic/HiNP5tgN4GI/DSC00081.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EnzRyzFGI/AAAAAAAAIic/HiNP5tgN4GI/DSC00081.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Unlike the last time I’d driven down to Ooty and seen only fog and cloud at view-points, this was quite different. Clear blue skies and light hew greeted as we climbed further towards the tallest peak in <st1:place st="on">South India</st1:place> – Do</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">dda Betta. </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">The name has always brought the same q</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">uestion in mind – how come one of the most prominent features in Tamil Nadu,</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EoJxyzFUI/AAAAAAAAIkM/UuuuDklgqOg/DSC00086.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EoJxyzFUI/AAAAAAAAIkM/UuuuDklgqOg/DSC00086.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> a state sometimes known for fundamental linguistics, was christened in</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Kanadda – perhaps a true example of united <st1:country-region st="on"><st1:place st="on">India</st1:place></st1:country-region>! As for the views, well, we had options in plenty. All around the peak</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> were marked areas to see the towns below – Ooty, Gudalur, Coonoor, Mettupalayam and Coimbatore to na</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">me a <i style="">few</i>. Icing on the cake was the baked corn and pineapple that we had, courtesy hawkers around the place. The good part was that the people were really cautious about not messing up the place by littering; presence of innumerous waste bins also helped a lot.</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >On the way to Coonoor</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >As we descended the roads from Dodda Betta and took turn towards Coonoor, the sight was not</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > exactly soothing to eyes, nor feelings welcomed by my bottom! The tar suddenly gave way to</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > mud and slush; boulders filled up the rest, all together, pretty painful. Thankfully, this road</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EpnhyzFqI/AAAAAAAAInM/Nmx2EsSnd2k/DSC00100.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EpnhyzFqI/AAAAAAAAInM/Nmx2EsSnd2k/DSC00100.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > condition didn't last long and after a couple of kms, we found ourselves on good roads. As the road meandered down towards Coonoor, I was on constant look out for the Toy Train that I'd taken for this journey the last time that I was in this region. Though the whistl</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >e could be heard once, the train continued to elude me. It was only when we were nearing Aruvankadu, I realized my mistake - all the while I was trying to find the train down in the valley, while it was running parallel to us on the other side, about half a km up the valley slope. As we approached </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Aruvankadu, the tummy started roaring louder than the bike; it was time to stop.</span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Saapadam</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > @ </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Aruvank</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >adu</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br />The least we talk about the food, </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >the better! It was one of the most </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >ordinary chicken biryani that I ever had. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EoWRyzFbI/AAAAAAAAIlE/AgakiXKObyY/DSC00108.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EoWRyzFbI/AAAAAAAAIlE/AgakiXKObyY/DSC00108.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Add to that an 'extra helpful' man who was in a state of his own and a bit of bother!! All in all, a very forgettable experience :( It was time to turn back, and give Coonoor a miss for the time being - hoping that visiting this place would be an independent trip by itself.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Climbing down Kalahatti Ghats</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br />As we hit Ooty back on our way, it really helped to go back to our breakfast hotel and help</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > ourselves with a cup of tea. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_En7xyzFMI/AAAAAAAAIjM/Jw-XusyrKYc/DSC00118.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_En7xyzFMI/AAAAAAAAIjM/Jw-XusyrKYc/DSC00118.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Also, there was boiled corn in offering on the other side of road. It was time that I took back the controls; not that Azmi could not drive down, i</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >t was the weight that needed to be handled while breaking on the way down hill. And some down hill it was - the engine roared in second gear almost all the time - breaks only being used intermittently to kill momentum. Still, the section was too good an experience to be missed. Azmi finally tried his hand after around three qua</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >rters of the ghats, and drove all the way till we hit the 'plains'.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Parting Show</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br />As we stopped over at Mudumalai for tea and snacks break, we came across this all excited man who spoke very fast Tamil. All I could recognize out of speech was '<span style="font-style: italic;">yana</span>'. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EmmxyzEtI/AAAAAAAAIfQ/Uk1d4k4DUz4/DSC00146.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EmmxyzEtI/AAAAAAAAIfQ/Uk1d4k4DUz4/DSC00146.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Azmi was a bit puzzled - he couldn't make head or tail of the lines spoken. "What is he talking about?" "He says that few elephants were sighted a few kms away." Probably the next thing both of us were thinking was only if we could get that lucky... (In my last dedicated trip to Bandipur, all I could find were deer, peacocks and wild buffalo) As we continued further, the gift (or rather gifts) was awaiting us - we came across 3 of them, and one was a tusker!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Juicy Gundalpet<br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >As our bottoms hit the rock (read road in between Bandipur and Gundalpet), the juice shop</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > in Gundalpet was what we were really looking forward to. This was Azmi's discovery on his way to Calicut. It's opposite to the KSRTC bus stand,</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > in the basement of hotel Udupi Uphar (IIRC). Boy, this place rocked! The Fresh Lime with Soda gave Anand's (near PESIT, Bangalore) some</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EnxByzFEI/AAAAAAAAIiM/IA05qNru_Xc/DSC00155.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/R_EnxByzFEI/AAAAAAAAIiM/IA05qNru_Xc/DSC00155.JPG.jpg?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > competition :) The next proper stop came only beyond Maddur. Shivalli, a restaurant next to Cafe Coffee Day, did not live up to its hype - may be it was end of business for them, but I found wanting... Still it did give my eyes some relief from those dreaded sand laden trucks. It was around 11:30 by the time we were close to our places. Once at Azmi's place, it was time to pick my stuff and my bike back. In exactly 24 hours, I was preparing to hit the sack, happy and satisfied to break my 6 month 'break'. As I was to find out later, this gave way to the first ever solo trip that I made on my bike, more than 5 years since I took Pulsar to road, to Chennai...</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-22011402931517690202007-08-05T04:56:00.000-07:002008-04-13T22:15:55.565-07:002007-06-30: Wandering around Chikmangalur, the 'Malnad'<span style="font-family:georgia;">It started with an email conversation at 8:00PM</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">"</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Aaj raat thora midnight drive karne ka man kar raha hai</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">..."</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">(I wish I could go on a midnight drive tonight...)</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">"</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Kahan?</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">"</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">(Where?)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">It was Azmi. This was followed by a call around 10PM.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">"I was thinking if we can visit Nandi Hills tomorrow early morning, its been a while now..."</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">"Don't talk to me about midnight drive and Nandi Hills together. With due respect to Nandi Hills, being only 70 odd kilometers from Bangalore, its hardly a drive..."</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">"Then what about <span style="font-style: italic;">Yercaud</span>, the poor man's <span style="font-style: italic;">Ooty</span>?"</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">"Ok, can go there, but then again, it will hardly be a drive, though its about 240kms away, the road's probably too good and it will hardly take 5hrs. Also, in this rain, what about Chikmangalur, it will be ideal time to check out the definition <span style="font-style: italic;">Malnad</span>?"</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">After a bit of persuasion, Azmi agreed, "Umm... Ok!"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >The Start<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">I got another call from him around 11PM, "There's a twist in tale, one of my friends is also interested in joining u</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">s. He has sold his bike away, and now only has a car. Catch - the car does not have a jack (tool to replace any tyre). If we get it from anyone, we'll go by car</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">,</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> else on two of our bikes. What say?"</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">This time, it was I who had to be convinced to opt for car instead of car. Assuming it was nearly impossible to get hold of a jack at midnight I agreed; I didn't know that I was in for a surprise.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">12:15AM, I got a call from a happy sounding Azmi, "Well, get ready for a car trip, we've managed a jack!" Around 12:40AM, I heard a car pulling up below my house, it was Azmi. "Where's the owner of the car?", I asked. I was kind of circumspect about the new person joining the trip, how would he be, high headed or a goof or uninteresting? "Hi, this is Vivek Jha.", he was a colleague of Azmi, working with Azul Systems. As time went by, I was happy to realize that I was in good company, with people having, what we call, matching frequency [:)]</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">We filled up the tank to the brim and were away by 1AM, minus, well, enough cash in pocket - an outcome of a collection of lazy bones, lazy enough not to go on the other side of road for an ATM until there were no more ATMs in sight!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >The Night Drive</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">As Vivek drove us out of Bangalore, he looked kind of happy. When asked, he gave me a small information - he was driving a car for the first time on a highway! Well, let me</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> tell you, though I sincerely felt that he was a bit crude, he was very safe and did not take any chances while on the wheel. Came Nelamangala and I took over. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">This was the first time that I was driving a Ford Ikon (though I </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >had </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">driven a Ford before - my <a href="http://picasaweb.google.co.in/rishi.choudhary/20050522LakeTahoeCAUS/photo#5171706359909542562">Mustang</a> while I was in Roseville [:)]). His Flair had pretty good pickup, but lacked in headlight beam alignment. </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofKzyicPWI/AAAAAAAABTU/BTQz_fEDge4/Chikmagalur%20%281%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofKzyicPWI/AAAAAAAABTU/BTQz_fEDge4/Chikmagalur%20%281%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">The following rain didn't help the cause either; thankfully, there was not much until we crossed Hassan. Looking at the road map, </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">we were supposed to take a right for Mudegiri,</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> about 4kms after Sakleshpur. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">But the pelting rain</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> saw to it that we didn't get much help from any of the parked trucks in Sakleshpur. We had to depend upon the Kannada knowledge that we had; I could somehow read few of the characters put on one of the sign boards on road side and decided to take a deviation.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">"If you think thats the right way to go, go ahead. Worst case it'll not be the sho</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">rtest way; we have anyway come out to roam the country.", and we all laughed out aloud. That's called company! Going ahead, however, we could make out that it was indeed </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >the </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">way to go. Though single lane, the road quality was way better than what we had got between Hassan and Sakleshpur. After confirming that it was OK for the driver, the two passengers went snoozing for the next hour or so.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Good Morning</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">The rain gods had not left us since little beyond Hassan, and the blessings</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> continued. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">It was around 6AM and we had already </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">crossed</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Mudigere </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">that the passengers came back to</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> activity.</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofK6SicPXI/AAAAAAAABTc/MpfqBFfSetM/Chikmagalur%20%287%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofK6SicPXI/AAAAAAAABTc/MpfqBFfSetM/Chikmagalur%20%287%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> A little rain break gave us enough</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> time to get freshed up. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Broad day light meant that it was</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> time for a switch on wheels. And so was the time to get hold of Azmi's camera. The scene outside was was just... true <span style="font-style: italic;">Malnad</span>, meaning 'Region of Heavy Rainfall'. The greenery and rain all around was just majestic, we could see step farming, small cascades and what not. Opps, one thing was missing - a place for having tindi (Kannada word for breakfast).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">Idli </span>for <span style="font-style: italic;">Tindi </span>with Hot Tea, and some shopping</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Finally, we found a small hotel at a junction </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofLPCicPbI/AAAAAAAABT8/LIGku7xY3CA/Chikmagalur%20%2817%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofLPCicPbI/AAAAAAAABT8/LIGku7xY3CA/Chikmagalur%20%2817%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">(can't remember the name). In fact, there were quite a few hotels to choose from. We finally chose the one that looked cleanest of all. W</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">arm </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Idli </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">with </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Chutni </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">and </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Sambhar </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">was the need of hour and thats what we precisely got. Though not the best I've ever had, the platter came as a true blessing.</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofLPCicPbI/AAAAAAAABT8/LIGku7xY3CA/Chikmagalur%20%2817%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofLdSicPdI/AAAAAAAABUM/qImsVpacZZ0/Chikmagalur%20%2820%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Once done with breakfast, the next thing in mind was to get some protective gear against rain. We had already taken notes by observing the locals there and we wasted no time to adapt ourselves to the culture. We needed to take a right at this place; going straight would have led us to </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Dharmasthala </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">through </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Charmadi </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Ghats.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >The Overflowing River</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Revitalized, we headed towards the first of our listed 'nice to see' places - </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Hornadu</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">. As we crossed </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Kalasa</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, we stopped to ask for direction, and were informed that the road ahead was blcoked; </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Tunga </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">river was overflowing, engulfing the bridge 4kms before </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Hornadu</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">. Not exactly </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofLqSicPfI/AAAAAAAABUc/GTnRlL4LNHE/Chikmagalur%20%2827%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofLqSicPfI/AAAAAAAABUc/GTnRlL4LNHE/Chikmagalur%20%2827%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">the most encouraging news, never the less, none of us had seen actual flooding in South India. We continued ahead to get a glimpse of the 'invisible' bridge. We were indeed greeted with one, with Kudremukh range in the background. We went out in the rain like kinder garden kids, enthused to empty the camera's memory card with our snaps. "Look where I went, that's a bridge behind me, you know, it got submerged in the river..!" Our next destination was Kudremukh, and possibly the </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Hanumana Gundi</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Waterfalls.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Towards Kudremukh</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">We came back to </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Kalasa</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, and took a right turn on the road leading to </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Kudremukh. As we negotiated few corners, there was some pleasant surprise waiting for us. Amidst the coffee country, we</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofMcSicPjI/AAAAAAAABU8/zmcOtkIH71U/Chikmagalur%20%2835%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofMcSicPjI/AAAAAAAABU8/zmcOtkIH71U/Chikmagalur%20%2835%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> were suddenly meandering through tea estates. We couldn't help but stopped there and just dashed into the plantation. It was not easy to drag ourselves out but then somehow we did it!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">There was more</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> rain to follow us, more in terms of its fury than beauty.</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofM_SicPnI/AAAAAAAABVc/8a-2A-atx2g/Chikmagalur%20%2842%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofM_SicPnI/AAAAAAAABVc/8a-2A-atx2g/Chikmagalur%20%2842%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> As we approached the Kudremukh National Park check-post, we could see it closed. Upon inquiry, we found out that there was a landslide a couple of kilometers further and the road was non-motorable. Kudremukh was as far as 14kms! After coming back to </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Kalasa</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, we spent some time on deciding upon the next destination. We foun</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">d out that the alternate route to </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Kudremukh</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> was also blocked. It was going to be</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" > Kemmangundi</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, coming back to </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Mudigere </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">and going beyond </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Chikmangalur </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">town towards </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Baba Budhan</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Range.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Coming Back to <span style="font-style: italic;">Mudigere </span>for Some <span style="font-style: italic;">Oota</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">There was another factor that we needed to take into consideration, we were short on </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofNeiicPrI/AAAAAAAABV8/zPswMjZK3Wc/Chikmagalur%20%2851%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofNeiicPrI/AAAAAAAABV8/zPswMjZK3Wc/Chikmagalur%20%2851%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">fuel and we were short of cash. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Not making it to </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Kudremukh</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> meant that </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">ATMs were still out of range. We decided to get fuel for the car and postpone our own refill till we reached </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Chikmangalur</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">. There were few water pools that we had negotiated while going towards </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Kalasa</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">. Now was the time to encash. The car went forward, dropped me and then backed off. It was time for a splash!</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Once </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofNWyicPqI/AAAAAAAABV0/RQn4-Lxd6R8/Chikmagalur%20%2848%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofNWyicPqI/AAAAAAAABV0/RQn4-Lxd6R8/Chikmagalur%20%2848%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">back inside car, it was time tha</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">t I finally took the back seat, for some well deserved rest. It was however Azmi who had been driving for most of the time since morning. Once we reached Mudigere, we were in for some more pleasantries. This place was big enough to have ATMs and doable hotels for </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >oota</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> (luncheon) . In morning, we had actually bypassed the town while heading towards </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Kalasa </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">from </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Sakleshpur</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">; the way to </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Chikmangalur </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">was </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >through Mudigere </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">town.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span>On the Way to <span style="font-style: italic;">Kemmangundi</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">The journey from <span style="font-style: italic;">Mudigere </span>to <span style="font-style: italic;">Chikmangalur </span>town was rather uneventful.</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofNuiicPvI/AAAAAAAABWc/PYiV34LX7XE/Chikmagalur%20%2857%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofNuiicPvI/AAAAAAAABWc/PYiV34LX7XE/Chikmagalur%20%2857%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> We stopped over in the district HQ to get some chips and all essential</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> potable water bottles. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Fro</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">m this place, there were a couple of ways that we could have gone to Kemmangundi - via Baba Budhan Range (which passes in proximity to Mullayangiri (Karnataka's tallest peak) and Bababudhangiri), and the other being the highway to Tarikere </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofN4yicPxI/AAAAAAAABWs/RsVq76fuFYY/Chikmagalur%20%2860%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofN4yicPxI/AAAAAAAABWs/RsVq76fuFYY/Chikmagalur%20%2860%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">(on Tumkur-Honnavar NH). </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">The scenery was captive enough to make us miss the former route, something that we didn't bother about. This was the first time in the day that rain had stopped and we had some fairly clear sky. It was time to get out of the confines of car and wander around, sit on the road and get into the woods. We spent some time there before the rain gods caught u</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">p with us.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Kalahasti Falls</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Kalahasti </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Falls is about 10kms before </span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Kemmangundi</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">, and</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofOKCicPzI/AAAAAAAABW8/qeVXmLDMVD0/Chikmagalur%20%2868%29.JPG?imgmax=512"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 240px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofOKCicPzI/AAAAAAAABW8/qeVXmLDMVD0/Chikmagalur%20%2868%29.JPG?imgmax=512" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> offers some very safe bathing zone if one's interested in having some fun. It also hosts around five century old temple at the base of the falls. As we reached it, we could have got all wet without going into the falls, and no, it wasn't that spray typical to water falls. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">If you still can't get it, it was well, our good old companion,</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofOByicPyI/AAAAAAAABW0/HEK9D9CFn64/Chikmagalur%20%2862%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofOByicPyI/AAAAAAAABW0/HEK9D9CFn64/Chikmagalur%20%2862%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> the rain [:D]. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Time was again to take out protective gear that we bought in the morning. All the 10 bucks spent on that was put to proper use. It was nothing but a big sheet made out of recycled green colored plastic. Well, mine was blue in color, to be precise. This was one souvenir that we got back from this trip! We felt like those <span style="font-style: italic;">firangs</span>; being given wierd looks by the passers by and the tourists alike. It was a different story that we were not complaining; we were rather enjoying that!<br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Enter Kemmangundi<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span>It was past 6PM that we entered <span style="font-style: italic;">Kemmangundi</span>. This scenic hill-station, 55 km north of Chikmangalur, is situated on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Baba Budhan</span> range at a height of 1,434 m. </span></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span>Not the best of the times to be there if you are looking forward to</span></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span> some breath taking views, coz everything was painted white and grey - the color of clouds.</span></span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofORyicP1I/AAAAAAAABXM/hvQzLuCJILM/Chikmagalur%20%2872%29.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/azmi.ahmad/RofORyicP1I/AAAAAAAABXM/hvQzLuCJILM/Chikmagalur%20%2872%29.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span> Positioned 8 km from Kemmangundi are the <span style="font-style: italic;">Hebbe </span>Falls, where we could not go as it was getting a bit too dark. The original plan was to try finding an overnight shelter at the Horticulture Department's Inspection Bungalow. This plan was however disturbed by the presence of leeches, and too many of them. They were just everywhere, from steering wheel of car to our jeans, trying to get in through the tough fabric and guess what, succeeding in the feat! Azmi had to literally tear off one of them as it had taken position to make him weigh less by few grams of blood.<br />"Lets get out of here!"<br />"We have another situation, one of the back tyres seem to be flat!"<br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Way Back - the Jack comes to rescue<br /><br /></span></span></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span><span>I </span></span></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span> checked out the spare one lying in the boot space and i could feel my palm sinking a long way in.<br />"It doesn't seem to hold enough air."<br />"Then lets get to the nearest puncture repair shop as quickly as possible."<br />I took over the wheels. Driving fast was out of question, with not so good roads and considerable mist. A couple of kilometers down and I realized that continuing any further on the flat tyre could have spelt doom on its life. We pulled over and then followed a perfect example of team work - Azmi got busy with the jack while I took care of taking out bolts off. Vivek was mercurial at showing us the 'mobile torch' and keeping the spare tyre out ready for </span></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span>replacement. We were off within 15minutes amidst total darkness and light drizzle! Once we reached plain lands, we luckily found a very good puncture repair shop. Irony remains that the spare tyre actually had just the right air pressure; it would make me think twice when I check for it the next time for any tyre by merely pressing it! Another irony, adjusting the headlight focus took more time <span style="font-style: italic;">and</span> money though it was not done to 100% satisfaction. A <span style="font-style: italic;">Dosa</span> dinner at <span style="font-style: italic;">Kaddur </span>(again on Tumkur-Honnavar NH) and someone asked me, "What time are we expecting to get back?" "Around 3AM." "Ok, don't think you are going to mind if we sleep, will you?" "Feel Free!"<br />With a break in between, we reached the toll-gate for the completed sector of NH-4, in between Tumkur and Nelamangala. I offered the wheel to Vivek, and he was more than happy to take over! By the time Vivek dropped Azmi and then me at my doorsteps, it was around 2:30AM, still about 30 minutes ahead of expected schedule, thanks to no rain after Kaddur.<br /><br />A little less than 800kms were done in a little over 25 hours. </span></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span>Selected moments of the trip can be found <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/azmi.ahmad/ChikmagalurTrip">here</a>.</span></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span> This was kind of a second such trip for me; had been to Coorg for the third time, this time with Arnab, a round trip of around 680kms in less than 23 hours of biking. I was not aware that the next trip following this one to Chikmangalur would again fall in same category - ~650kms done for a glimpse of Iruppu Falls in 16 hours with Abdulla.<br /></span></span>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-37873378522051349392007-02-05T02:15:00.000-08:002007-02-10T10:58:00.053-08:002007-01-25: Trek to Mullayangiri and Baba Budangiri<span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >"Hey, what are you doing over the weekend?", asked Naveen.</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >"Umm... Got few plans but not sure, why what are you up to?"</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >"Well, we are going for a trek, starting tonight from Bangalore and coming back only by Sunday evening..., you interested?"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >"</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Let me see, I need to confirm few things</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > before I can say anything..."</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >"Ok, let me know by lunch time if you </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >are </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >joining us or not."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >"Where to, and how many?"</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >"Up Mullayangiri and then continuing to Baba Budangiri, seven of us, plus two of the organizers."</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >It all started off with this conversation to Naveen, my colleague at EMC and my batchmate in engg days. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >And as this topic headline would</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > suggest, I was very much in. I gave my confirmation at about 2pm. Amit, our key initiator for the trip, was kind of suspicious at first, "Are you sure that </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >you'll not drop out at the last moment?" Well, all I could do was to empathize with him, I had been a sufferer in quite a few similar situations. "You can count on me" was all I said.</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >"Ok, then catch you at 9:30pm at office premises tonight. Just make sure you follow the basics mentioned in the mail I'm going to send you now."</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >"Done, catch ya at night then!"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >The Start</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Reaching office itself was not easy - a jam packed 200 meters on Hosur Road to start with, and a cranky auto rickshaw to further thicken the plot.</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDaSyDMiI/AAAAAAAAAbE/Hzv2DMJuRxk/Mullyangiri_Trek0002.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDaSyDMiI/AAAAAAAAAbE/Hzv2DMJuRxk/Mullyangiri_Trek0002.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >There was a bit of surprise waiting for me when I reached office. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >I met Deepak there, my engineering classmate. Time to introduce the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >rest of the gang now - Ashraf, Shubash, Vamsi and Vijay, apart from the four of us - Amit,</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > Deepak Naveen and myself. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >A</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >s our bus came in, it</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > was time to get familiarized with our trek organizers - Nagendra (aka Nagi) and Santosh,</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDayyDMjI/AAAAAAAAAbM/o8RaWh_LLbg/Mullyangiri_Trek0003.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDayyDMjI/AAAAAAAAAbM/o8RaWh_LLbg/Mullyangiri_Trek0003.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > two outdoor experts from Adventure Works!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As we glided out of the city limits, the next best thing to do was to find a </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >dhaba</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > to eat. Naveen was cozying out on his latest innovation, while the others frantically looked out. One after the other, the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >dhabas</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > had closed down for the day. I kn</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >ew of one place, little beyond Neelamangala, that would be open beyond 12 midnight. </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDbCyDMkI/AAAAAAAAAbU/W6eLU0V9Nz8/Mullyangiri_Trek0004.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDbCyDMkI/AAAAAAAAAbU/W6eLU0V9Nz8/Mullyangiri_Trek0004.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As it turned</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > out, this was the place that gave us relief in the </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >end. As we came out, the driver took us by complete surprise; we were heading back towards Neelaman</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >gala. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >He persisted to his plan of taking the Tumkur -> Kadur route. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >"This route will be at least 2 hours shorter compared to Hassan route". Little did we agree to him but then let his decision rule - he was the one who was going to drive us through the night. It wasn't a glide though, with the roads absent after Kadur and the</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > self-opening </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >window that saw to it that very few of us actually slept. So much so that eve</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >n the likes of Naveen gave up and got back to the seat in a more orthodox posture.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Instruction Time</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As we got down in Chickmangalur and feasted on some delicious </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >breakfast, it was time to size up the entire day's event. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As we reached this small temple about half way up the Mullayangiri route, it was time to bid adieu to the bus, till</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDgSyDMxI/AAAAAAAAAc8/w-rjeU98tMY/Mullyangiri_Trek0017.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDgSyDMxI/AAAAAAAAAc8/w-rjeU98tMY/Mullyangiri_Trek0017.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > Sunday morning. It was time to appre</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >ciate the experience of Nagi and Santosh w.r.t. the trek preparation. Back-packs, petrol stoves, tents, sleeping bags, chocolates</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >, spices and what not. The list was </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >short</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > and precise. We left our personal bags in the bus and started packing our back-packs. A brief instruction followed. Finally, it was time to move on. Carrying near about 15 kilos on back (apart from my own ponch) was not going to be easy for a first timer like me.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >The Up-Hill Task</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As we started the ascent, the 60 degree slope</span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDiCyDM1I/AAAAAAAAAdc/JuieBmuCyto/Mullyangiri_Trek0021.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDiCyDM1I/AAAAAAAAAdc/JuieBmuCyto/Mullyangiri_Trek0021.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > started taking its toll almost immediately. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >The January sun never shown as brilliantly. "Drink as much possible and as many times as possible", Nagi's words echoed within my ears as the team continued. </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDnCyDNBI/AAAAAAAAAe8/cEMCOzwkQo8/Mullyangiri_Trek0033.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDnCyDNBI/AAAAAAAAAe8/cEMCOzwkQo8/Mullyangiri_Trek0033.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As we proceeded, steam started running out. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >The initial booster rocket had been disposed. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Now it all depended upon how much fire was left in the belly to propel us forward; I wondered if the last sentence had some literal meaning, after all, I had the largest belly of them all ;)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Conquering the Top</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As we turned the last corner, </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDpCyDNGI/AAAAAAAAAfk/wVfvhVJ6oeM/Mullyangiri_Trek0038.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDpCyDNGI/AAAAAAAAAfk/wVfvhVJ6oeM/Mullyangiri_Trek0038.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >we saw something peculiar - Mullayangiri was standing tall in front of us, half pale green and half black! </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >There were still a good number of stone steps to be negotiated </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >before we reached the top. Grass had got burnt on one side of the steps leaving </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDvyyDNYI/AAAAAAAAAh0/ZyV-kPxioko/Mullyangiri_Trek0058.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDvyyDNYI/AAAAAAAAAh0/ZyV-kPxioko/Mullyangiri_Trek0058.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >the other side intact, well guarded by the stone steps themselves. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Another grueling 20 minutes and there we were, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >on top of Mullayangiri, inside a small and rustic temple. Just as we cooled our heels off, a pleasant surprise was in waiting... a delicious lunch, courtesy the temple care taker!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Some Explorations</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Just before we went in for lunch, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >a group of trekkers passed by, giving us an interesting bit of information - </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDwiyDNaI/AAAAAAAAAiE/wUEqk8hllvQ/Mullyangiri_Trek0060.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjDwiyDNaI/AAAAAAAAAiE/wUEqk8hllvQ/Mullyangiri_Trek0060.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >there were couple of caves little way down the other side of hill. Once full, we knew where to head next. We were inside the caves after 20 minutes of our lunch. "Ant lining" ourselves in the caves, we moved on.<br /><br />The way became thinner and meaner. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >We were entering a bat kingdom. They were hanging inches from our heads. On our knees, we kept on going till we could continue no further. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjD1yyDNnI/AAAAAAAAAjs/PK4ao6yD5gM/Mullyangiri_Trek0076.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjD1yyDNnI/AAAAAAAAAjs/PK4ao6yD5gM/Mullyangiri_Trek0076.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >A depleted air supply and a steep slope down prevented us from going further. To add to it, there seemed to be few hurt bats, and we didn't want to disturb them any more. We finally came out to patiently waiting ears. Amit had reopened his palm wound and therefore had to back out from the cave explorations. We were not complaining either; he looked after our belongings while we were away. As we came back to the summit, a small navigation tuition was up for grabs. We got hold of few magnetic compasses, and listening keenly to Santosh. </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjD4SyDNvI/AAAAAAAAAks/WN1c-2vuA0A/Mullyangiri_Trek0087.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjD4SyDNvI/AAAAAAAAAks/WN1c-2vuA0A/Mullyangiri_Trek0087.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Half an hour later, we were heading down towards an arbitrary target to reach, tracing our way using the compass. Amit and I preferred stopping half the way down the slope, taking snaps of the rest of the group.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >It looked pretty difficult for us to make it back to the summit in time for the sunset had we proceeded to the target. It was not long before the others also had the same thought. They came back just in time for a spectacular sunset.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Dinner Time</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As darkness set in, it was time to put the tents up and prepare for dinner. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >While we took some quick lessons from Santosh and put that to practice , </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjD5yyDN0I/AAAAAAAAAlU/W_i2dBuGeig/Mullyangiri_Trek0094.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjD5yyDN0I/AAAAAAAAAlU/W_i2dBuGeig/Mullyangiri_Trek0094.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >chief chef Amit took charge of the kitchen. Vegitables were cut and petrol stoves lit up, while a special 'dynamo torch' flood lit the entire show. Finally, when the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Sambhar</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >-Rice combination got ready, an age-old group </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >of hunger-struck people saw to it that it didn't last more than few minutes! </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFmSyDPoI/AAAAAAAAAz4/507E8e2dbwI/Mullyangiri_Trek0100.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFmSyDPoI/AAAAAAAAAz4/507E8e2dbwI/Mullyangiri_Trek0100.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As we finally settled in our respective tents, gossip continued till it died a natural death.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >It was about 3 am when I woke up. As I opened my eyes, I saw the wonderful sky above me. It was never better than this. With no pollution at this altitude, it was simply heaven. I could see the temple silhouette against a moon lit sky. But then, there was still something strange about all this. Finally, the chill gave it away...</span><br /><p style="font-family: georgia; font-style: italic;">'Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.''<br />Watson replies, ''I see millions of stars.''<br />''What does that tell you?''<br />Watson ponders for a minute. ''Astronomically speaking, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, it tells me that Saturn is in Leo. Time wise, it appears to be approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, it's evident the Lord is all-powerful and we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, it seems we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?''<br />Holmes is silent for a moment, then speaks. ''Watson, you idiot, someone has stolen our tent.''</p><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Except for the last statement, where our tent's outer layer got blown away, the rest of the story coincided exactly with the famous Holmes camping joke!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Morning Raga</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As it turned out, my tent was not the only one affected. </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjD-SyDOBI/AAAAAAAAAm8/JwqyTtmms4c/Mullyangiri_Trek0110.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjD-SyDOBI/AAAAAAAAAm8/JwqyTtmms4c/Mullyangiri_Trek0110.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As the day broke out, we realized that all our tents had the outer lying next to them (thanks to the embedded rods, </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjD9iyDN_I/AAAAAAAAAms/j9xUawJS1rU/Mullyangiri_Trek0106.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjD9iyDN_I/AAAAAAAAAms/j9xUawJS1rU/Mullyangiri_Trek0106.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >the outers didn't fly out of reach). </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As the sun rose behind us, it was </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Upma </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >time! </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Never had I liked Upma so much before and feasted on it (and, never going to enjoy it later, hopefully!). </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjEBiyDOJI/AAAAAAAAAn8/KCSxKP_oW2Q/Mullyangiri_Trek0122.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjEBiyDOJI/AAAAAAAAAn8/KCSxKP_oW2Q/Mullyangiri_Trek0122.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >It was about 10 am that we had a group photo (yes, the only shot where all of us were together in one frame), and started towards Baba Budangiri. It was going to be a long walk, crossing five hills and a ridge on the way... no one was complaining!</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Baba Budangiri Beakoning</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As we moved forward, </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFoSyDPvI/AAAAAAAAA0w/MDqmdeNQPZ8/Mullyangiri_Trek0126.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; height: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFoSyDPvI/AAAAAAAAA0w/MDqmdeNQPZ8/Mullyangiri_Trek0126.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >we could notice a clear demarcation between two worlds, man's and nature's, on either side of hill tops. While the former was manipulated to suit the man, the later was telling its own story. </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFpCyDPxI/AAAAAAAAA1A/MCfqZmg5TCw/Mullyangiri_Trek0138.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFpCyDPxI/AAAAAAAAA1A/MCfqZmg5TCw/Mullyangiri_Trek0138.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >In his last expedition here, Nagi's team had noticed a tiger, in pursuit of a deer. We were not lucky enough though; we had to get contended by the stupendous view and, well, some cat shit. We could see see leopard's droppings on the trail. As confirmed by Nagi, the bigger cats generally take this way to mark their territory.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Over the Ridge</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >1:15 pm. As we negotiated three hills one after the other, we had decision time. </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjEPyyDOoI/AAAAAAAAAr4/FJgWv8PwiZI/Mullyangiri_Trek0158.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjEPyyDOoI/AAAAAAAAAr4/FJgWv8PwiZI/Mullyangiri_Trek0158.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >We could see more than one possible route to reach Baba Budangiri. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >After some debate and checking out</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > various options, we took on the ridge, dumping the green patch of woods beckoning at 345 degrees... In this process however, missed out on an important issue; more on this later...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >We met a few groups coming from the other side, on their way to Mullayangiri.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjESSyDOvI/AAAAAAAAAsw/cH02yHYxXRw/Mullyangiri_Trek0166.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; height: 320px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjESSyDOvI/AAAAAAAAAsw/cH02yHYxXRw/Mullyangiri_Trek0166.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Apparently, we had started at the same time, which meant, we would take close to 3 hrs to climb the last two hills, (excluding the ridge) in our way.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >There were few breath taking moments to begin with. Then these moments started coming more frequently. And then, they were in plenty, so much so, that we were not getting </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >that </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >breathless at the end of the ridge. That didn't mean that we were not running out of water. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Though the temperature was kept down, courtesy the continuous cool breeze. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >This, however, kept taking our body fluid away. By the time we negotiated the penultimate hill, the situation got worsened.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" > </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFriyDP3I/AAAAAAAAA1w/szix2H1We9s/Mullyangiri_Trek0183.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFriyDP3I/AAAAAAAAA1w/szix2H1We9s/Mullyangiri_Trek0183.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >This was the thing we forgot during our debate earlier. We didn't fill our water bottles then, with what was available there. Now, we were running really short. What ever water that was available held extreme importance. Glucose and Electrol became the </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >sankat mochan</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >. I was also feeling the heat. Nagi came to rescue again.</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >"Walk at your own pace, slow and steady. Just keep walking, don't stop until really necessary."</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Thats it, I was on my way.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >Reaching Baba Budangiri</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >As the group had got split and moving at its own pace, </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFsiyDP6I/AAAAAAAAA2I/sZFrImAnO_c/Mullyangiri_Trek0187.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFsiyDP6I/AAAAAAAAA2I/sZFrImAnO_c/Mullyangiri_Trek0187.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;" >I found an alley in Vamsi. With the others had moved ahead and Subash, Vijay, Santosh and Nagi following us, the two of us carried on. It was little more than 4 pm, as we reached the BSNL tower. The others had already reached the top, and were waiting at the other smaller tower. <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFtCyDP8I/AAAAAAAAA2Y/7nNSI_jyDuE/Mullyangiri_Trek0197.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFtCyDP8I/AAAAAAAAA2Y/7nNSI_jyDuE/Mullyangiri_Trek0197.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a>As it turned out, they were out of luck; there was no water at there place. The situation was not much better at our end, though, we had a very cooperating tower in-charge. As the others joined the two of us, I suddenly felt something on my face; it was a rain. We needed to act fast.</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Relief at </span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Manikya Dhara</span><br /><br />We needed to cover another kilometer or so to reach the only potable water resource in the vicinity. </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >The walk was less demanding than our actual ascent, but the threshold had already being reached.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > One of us had a sudden black out, but no damage was done. As we reached <span style="font-style: italic;">Manikya Dhara</span>, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFuiyDQAI/AAAAAAAAA24/rqqrsJ-OKio/Mullyangiri_Trek0204.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFuiyDQAI/AAAAAAAAA24/rqqrsJ-OKio/Mullyangiri_Trek0204.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >we took shelter in one of the two bus stops. Rain was out for the moment. We could roam around and get hold the last few cups of tea and coffee. Santosh had gone out in search of water source. After a brief wait, the good news came. Santosh had found the <span style="font-style: italic;">Manikya Dhara</span> before it went down forming a small water fall. After filling up all our water bottles, it was time to refresh ourselves. Washing the face with cold and clear water was the best thing in life.<br /></span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">As the Night falls</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >It was dinner time again. The menu, <span style="font-style: italic;">puliyogre</span> - </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >a rice preparation having spices and tamarind.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > More important was the fact that it remains one of my favorite South Indian delicacies. </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjEgyyDPUI/AAAAAAAAAxY/5pCMptDaoU0/Mullyangiri_Trek0219.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjEgyyDPUI/AAAAAAAAAxY/5pCMptDaoU0/Mullyangiri_Trek0219.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > As we finished the last grains of </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">puliyogre</span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >, it was time to wash all the utensils and getting ready to settle down. The half moon night was a treat for the camera. Vijay's Nikon 50D came handy with its ISO1600 digital sensor. A cliff side view point had already been </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >identified as our camping site, with a unanimous decision of not putting up the tent outers; </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >finding them, once blown away to the plains below, </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >they would be impossible to recover.</span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >As we put up the two of three tents (Santosh and Nagi had put up in the Bus Stop upstairs). </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFwiyDQFI/AAAAAAAAA3g/aHLmLiEL1uI/Mullyangiri_Trek0220.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjFwiyDQFI/AAAAAAAAA3g/aHLmLiEL1uI/Mullyangiri_Trek0220.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >As on the previous night, the gossip had begun. But it was not long that something else joined us, rain. We had to act fast. First of them, was to put the outers on the tents. As the rain got stronger, we rushed into our tents. The next thing was to make sure that the outers didn't get blown away as earlier. We finally got things fixed. The outers were safely secured to the tent base. It was not long before we could <span style="font-style: italic;">hear</span> people sleeping!</span><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Good Morning</span><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family: georgia;">6 am. The wind had blown for the entire night. The tent outers were still in place. It was Amit's voice that broke the now familiar wind whistle, "Hey, come out now, just check this out! </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjEhyyDPYI/AAAAAAAAAx4/17MUPA6IGio/Mullyangiri_Trek0226.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjEhyyDPYI/AAAAAAAAAx4/17MUPA6IGio/Mullyangiri_Trek0226.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;">The cloud cover is so dense that I can even see beyond few feet!" "If visibility is that bad, what would be there to see", a reply came from one of the tents. A roar of laughter followed. After all, not as many were asleep as I initially thought. As we finally came out, the cloud had temporarily settled down a bit and we could see the sun for few minutes. As this was a public place, we hurried up putting our tents back in their bags and gathered our belongings; </span><a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjEjCyDPdI/AAAAAAAAAyg/qgvtb4cMxM0/Mullyangiri_Trek0231.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RcjEjCyDPdI/AAAAAAAAAyg/qgvtb4cMxM0/Mullyangiri_Trek0231.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family: georgia;">after all, we didn't want the tourists to have any problems due to our presence. As I consumed some much needed coffee and a freshening, but tongue burning veg soup, I heard Amit's announcement, "Looks like our bus is on time." As I strolled out of the Bus Shelter, I could testify his findings. It took us another half an hour before we were ready for departure. As the sky cleared for a wonderful day, it was time to hop back into the bus to get back to Bangalore. But before we could think of Bangalore, we had something else in our minds, visiting the shrine of </span><span style="font-style: italic; font-family: georgia;">Baba Budan</span><span style="font-family: georgia;">, the saint after whom the hills identity was derived.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">At Baba's <span style="font-style: italic;">Mazaar</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Baba Budan's </span>mazaar (or shrine), inside a laterite cave, is considered holy by both Hindus and Muslims. After a lot of <span style="font-style: italic;">masti</span>, it was time to get calmed down. And what better place than this!<br /><br />After a brief stay at the holy place, we ventured out. Except a few, most of of feasted out on the oemlet that was on offering from one of the nearby shops. That kept our bellies silent till we reached back Chickmangalur.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Heading back Home</span><br /><br />It was going to be the same restaurant, and nearly the same menu. Thankfully, once out and back on bus, it was not going to be the same route back to Bangalore. We took the Hassan road instead of the one via Kadur. Against all delays, and an understandable silent journey, we were back home. But not before having a perfect beginning to what can become a truly <span style="font-style: italic;">trekking year</span> for me. Thanks Amit, and the rest of the gang! Special thanks to Nagi and Santosh, for their excellent support, maturity and guidance, hope we get together sometime again in near future!<br /><br />Few of the 1200+ snaps taken during the trek </span><span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >(courtesy Deepak, Subhash, Vijay and yours truly), can be found <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rishi.choudhary/20070125MullayanGiriAndBabaBudanGiriTrek">here</a>.<br /></span>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-1157646126016074372006-09-07T09:10:00.001-07:002007-02-04T09:52:48.856-08:002006-08-12: Bike Trip to Kochi<span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >"I'll go to Nepal also, if u want me to, this is only Kochi...!"</span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >"Think again, are you sure that you can go all the way on bike?"<br />"Yes yes, you don't worry, I'm game for the entire trip."<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Gabbar was all enthused!</span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br />"I also want yo join you, on my Fiero in the worst case...!"</span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >"Its not a small distance, besides, we'll be taking breaks in Wayanad.<br />Also, It will be raining heavily..."<br />"Not a problem!"<br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >"Ok, Done! We are leaving Bangalore at 2AM sharp!"</span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >"Ok, I'll start making all the arrangements."<br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >This was Abdulla...</span><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Start</span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br />2AM, Bangalore. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH3ChDiABI/AAAAAAAAABQ/MA_G0nKDA9I/DSCF0072.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH3ChDiABI/AAAAAAAAABQ/MA_G0nKDA9I/DSCF0072.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >We were all geared up for a </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >550+ kms bike trip to Kochi, via Mysore, Bandipur, Wayanad and Calicut. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Everything went fine till we t</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >ook our first break, at around 4AM beyond Maddur. Once back on road came rain,</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > our fourth faithful companion in the trip!<br /></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH3FIlQABI/AAAAAAAAABg/YlWmSie1xVc/DSCF0078.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh6.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH3FIlQABI/AAAAAAAAABg/YlWmSie1xVc/DSCF0078.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >The breakfast was taken at Gundalpet, around</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > 60kms beyond Mysore. This is the place where the road splits for Ooty and Calicut. An early</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > morning call to update Maa and Gabbar coming </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >in </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >te</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >r</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >ms with the actual distance to be covered were the highlights apart from the rock solid 'idli' </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >here.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH3Jx2GABI/AAAAAAAAAB4/i_R_uBZuDhE/DSCF0084.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH3Jx2GABI/AAAAAAAAAB4/i_R_uBZuDhE/DSCF0084.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Th</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >e road ahead was the highlight of the journey, cloud covered mountains to road side herds of deer! The only sad part was that we were not allow</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >ed to stop over and shoot once inside Bandipur WLS. It was as if a dream had come </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >true, with </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >a drizzle setting in...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Enter Wayanad</span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br />It was the h</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >oarding of Wayanad WLS that made us</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH3OO5VABI/AAAAAAAAACA/UL2Ldez08lg/DSCF0089.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH3OO5VABI/AAAAAAAAACA/UL2Ldez08lg/DSCF0089.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > realize that we were no more in Karnataka but entered the 'cause' of the trip. Yes, it was Wayanad that ha</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >d prompted me to take this journey up, knowing well that a bike trip to Kerala is not the best thing to do during Monsoon </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >season. It was really difficult for me to co</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >nvince</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH3W062ABI/AAAAAAAAACY/Puzi7HbWJwQ/DSCF0094.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH3W062ABI/AAAAAAAAACY/Puzi7HbWJwQ/DSCF0094.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >people that it was actually the rain that</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > had pushed me for this bike trip. Kerala is at its best during Monsoon, and what better than riding amidst the greenery with steady drizzle on -</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > its heave</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >nly! I was least bothered if I was getting termed as a Nerd, it was an honor instead...<br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Co</span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">mes Sultan Bathery<br /><br /></span>This is one of the main towns of Wayanad, and probably the most popular one besides </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Vaithiri </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >(known for its resorts) and Kalpetta (distt. HQ). </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >As such, we did not explore the town much, but then were pleasantly surprised with the cleanliness maintained throughout. It was decision time - which all places to visit, which to exclude from the list. Well, it was not the best of the things to do coz items were in plenty and time, as alwa</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >ys, limited. Finally, we zeroed on three things - Edakkal Caves, </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Kanthanpara </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Falls and Pookat Lake. We took off the highway (NH-212, beyond Mysore, till Calicut) after</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > around 5kms from Sultan Bathery.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Edakkal Caves<br /><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >This was about 6-7kms off NH-212, “A stone in</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > betwee</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >n</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >” - </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH36CUvABI/AAAAAAAAAD4/63yYdXuHPKE/DSCF0146.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 279px; height: 344px;" src="http://lh5.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH36CUvABI/AAAAAAAAAD4/63yYdXuHPKE/DSCF0146.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >The name comes from the fact that there's a huge rock resting upon two of the same</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > kind below.</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > The cave is located at a height of 1000 m on Ambukutty Mala near Ambalavayal. The New Stone Age pictorial writings on the</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > walls of these natural caves at Edakkal are evidence of the civilization that existed in these regions in prehistoric times. Check</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > out http://www.edakkal.com/ for more information. The more interesting part for us, however, was</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > the 'Tri-State' point atop this mega structure - we can see three states, Karnakata and Tamil</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > Nadu apart from Kerala itself where its located. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Kanthanpara </span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Falls</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >It</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > was as if we were going down to the basement of</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > Wayanad, such was the down hill gradient to the falls. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RPJ9smhGABI/AAAAAAAAAK0/sZGzuFbX_qk/DSCF0178.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh3.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/RPJ9smhGABI/AAAAAAAAAK0/sZGzuFbX_qk/DSCF0178.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Once we reached the place, all we could see</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > was a three feet cascade - a pure case of utter disappointment! Just as we were about to star</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >t back came a native girl. What she asked and t</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >hen told us remains as clear as my understanding of Malayalam till date, but it was enough for us to go into the dense green vegetation and explore beyond. Thanks to the girl, we didn't miss upon one of the smaller but gorgeous water falls that I've come across. The silver lining to the falls was the sheer amount of water it was carrying down, and the mist it was generating. I really had a hard time in keeping the camera dry!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lush Green Gardens</span><br /><br />This was another first for me; never in my life</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > had I seen Tea and Coffee gardens going hand in hand with each other. There was this continuous</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > carpet of Tea bushes, and before one realized and</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH4ByX_ABI/AAAAAAAAAEg/WMdKa-tqasg/DSCF0164.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH4ByX_ABI/AAAAAAAAAEg/WMdKa-tqasg/DSCF0164.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > turned a corner, Tea was no where to be seen but replaced with Coffee plantations. The two kept up with there quest on playing the</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > hide and seek game with us, until we realized that we had actually over run the way to Pookat Lake. With an untold agreement, we just moved on with our attention still being held with the greenery around us. We got back on NH-212 well beyond Pookat Lake, infact very close to Vaithiri.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Coming down the Ghats</span></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" ><br /></span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Once we crossed Vaithiri, came Lakkidi's Ghat Section. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >The Ghats run for around 12 kms and one descends about 800 meters, to the plain lands of Kerala.</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH4NbfFABI/AAAAAAAAAFI/Ret9nP04ejY/DSCF0191.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH4NbfFABI/AAAAAAAAAFI/Ret9nP04ejY/DSCF0191.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > We stopped over for some much needed break, more to feast our eyes on the view provided than to satisfy our tummies. This was the first time that I was at this location during day light and knew what I'd missed out upon in the p</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >ast; all the while on previous occasions, I had traversed this during the darkness of midnight. All I could make out during those times was the twinkle of vehicles' headlights that gave enough evidence of the might of Ghats. Sudden jolt broke my trains of thought. We were amongst the worst section of roads till that point. Though the road widening <span style="font-style: italic;">was</span> going on, it had little immediate relief. Continuous water flow had reduced the road to nothing. The struggle finally ended with the Ghats bidding adieu after a while. We had hit the plains...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lying Low</span><br /><br />In a flash we could make our the difference. The air was warmer, and typically humid. The heaven was history. Kerala is not known to have the highest population density for nothing. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >People people everywhere. "We love Highways" seemed to be the mantra here. Let it be the kids or grown ups, they were all there. Even the cattle didn't spare the road. As time went by, the two of my co-travellers had started to get fatigued. Abdulla realized that he would not be able to move on without a proper rain gear. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >We stopped over for a bargain, and started once he was confident of his latest purchase.</span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > As the sun came down, we realized that we had moved a bit too slowly for our comfort. With rain constantly pelting down it would not be easy driving once natural faded. Further, taking NH-17 towards Gurvayur didn't help us much; we reached there late and it would not have been possible to visit the temple. In the process, however, we did achieve something peculiar - till the end of our journey, our route had not crossed over to the standard route from Bangalore to Ernakulam.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Final Showdown</span><br /><br />Driving in rain had never been the same. </span><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" >Bright flashing headlights ceased to go low beam, neither did the volume of traffic got down (even though it was raining all, but literally cats and dogs). Wading through calf high water, we moved</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH4QXexABI/AAAAAAAAAFY/waZSLTVxpqc/DSCF0195.JPG"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://lh4.google.com/image/rishi.choudhary/ROH4QXexABI/AAAAAAAAAFY/waZSLTVxpqc/DSCF0195.JPG" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" > on. We finally reached my sister's place at around 10pm. Exhausted we were, but then, this was one of the best and most challenging drives for me till then. It retains its status even now, especially since I'm completing this write-up after a gap of five months including a 1000+ kms circular trip of Jog Falls!<br /><br />Few stills captured during the trip can be found <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/rishi.choudhary/20060812BikeTripToKochi">here</a>...<br /></span>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-1144403081320008202006-04-07T02:41:00.000-07:002006-04-16T02:45:52.773-07:002006-03-17: Kodaikanal, TN<span style="font-family:georgia;">The last time there was a plan for this hill station, it was only to be cancelled at the 10th hour, coz of a campus recruitment happening over the weekend; one of the reasons that I joined hp the very next day of my last exam instead of a week later! Lastly, Kodai couldn't wait for me any longer ;) </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The Plan<br /></strong><br />16th March. I got a call from Milind in the evening.<br />“We are planning to make a trip to Goa for the coming weekend, you game?”<br />“No, not at all”, said I. I had just been back from Goa a couple of months back.<br />“Ok, if not Goa then do you have anything else in mind?”<br />“Umm… lets see. I have already seen most of the places in Central and Southern Karnataka.<br />Its already getting warm, so we should rather avoid the beaches. What about a hill station?”<br />“Which one, Ooty”? Asked Milind.<br />“Since you are planning to take the car, what about Kodaikanal?”<br />“Ok, let me ask my other two friends.”<br />“Who”?<br />“Madan and Vinod. You have already met Madan when we went to Ranganthittu.”<br />“I do have some work for the weekend, if I can finish or postpone it, I’m game!”<br />“Ok.”<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Start<br /></strong><br />Probably, this was the first time that any plan made more than a day in advance was actually going to work out for me. As it turned out, I fulfilled all my weekend commitments before time and we were ready for the trip. On being informed about this plan, Abdulla (my partner in most of my recent trips) had a very simple question, “Do you have space for one more guy?” This time, it was Azmi who was going to miss out!<br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai001.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai001.0.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />18th March, 21:45hrs. I couldn’t believe my eyes! Milind was actually there dot on time! Probably, it was the company of Mohan and Vinod that did the trick, but still…<br />In fact, it was Abdulla, the otherwise punctual guy, who did the damage. Never the less, we were only 15 minutes late on departure. The biggest blow to the schedule came when I came to know that 3 of us hadn’t taken our dinner. So, now instead of reaching Dindigul by 5 in the morning, we were sure, not to be there before 7am!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The Drive<br /></strong><br />One of the biggest reasons for my coming for the trip was the drive. We were going to do to and fro Dindigul driving overnight! <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai002.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai002.jpg" border="0" /></a>Of all 5, only Milind and Mohan were to drive (apart from me, of course). By 12:40am, the 2 have had their stint at the driver’s seat, and it was time for me to take over after Krishnagiri. The road till Salem was going to be tough – first, the last year’s rain had completely eroded the tar, and second, the road widening was taking place. As we swirled around pot holes and diversions, wickets started to fall one by one. There was a serious competition going on for the stud with the loudest snore. Vinod was a clear winner until Milind joined the show – ‘Rang de Basanti’ songs just got lost somewhere; leave the guys alone, Milind directly competing with his Sony X-Plod!<br /><br />This was the first drive in quite a few years that I got those glaring headlights; people forgetting about the dipper switch in their vehicles. That marred the average speed a bit. I was more than glad to stick to the basics (if you can't see what lies ahead, then stop!) of night driving; saw a couple of accidents, in one case, a truck had romped into one of those many bullock carts that take the NH without having any reflectors abroad!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Good Morning Dindigul<br /></strong><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai004.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai004.jpg" border="0" /></a>It was just about 6am when we stopped over for getting straightened out. It was time for Milind to show us his daredevils – something he is infamous for! We were snaking through typical morning traffic of rural India, at 90-120kmph! <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai005.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai005.0.jpg" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Things improved marginally when we actually entered the ghat section, about 45-50kms in total; Milind could only manage 40-50kmph on ‘U’s and 20-30kmph on ‘V’ turns!! We stopped <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai006.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai006.jpg" border="0" /></a>over quite a few times to get a casual glimpse of all the scenery in offering. Also, a necessary stop for few of us to unload themselves…<br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></p><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Enter Kodai<br /></strong><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai007.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai007.0.jpg" border="0" /></a>It was nearly 10:30 that </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">we entered Kodai, the Silver Falls greeting us at the doorstep! Once in, we looked out for a hotel, and found one cottage with much ado. <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai008.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai008.jpg" border="0" /></a><br />The evening went pedaling boats in the star-fish shaped Kodai Lake. </span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>The Following Day<br /></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Croaker’s Walk</span><br /></strong><br />The visits started with a stroll down <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai009.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai009.0.jpg" border="0" /></a>the ‘Croaker’s Walk’ – a km long paved pathway on a ridge with breath taking views. We felt as if we were actually air born, having a definition bird’s eye view of the cloud covered hills down below! Simply awesome! We had our breakfast in one of the <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai010.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai010.jpg" border="0" /></a>resorts adjoining the ridge, a perfect start for what was going to be a perfect day out…<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></strong></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Suicide Point a.k.a. Green Valley View</span></strong><br /><br />Illustrated <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai011.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai011.jpg" border="0" /></a>by a steep fall of more that 600 feet, this place was right there, at the top of our world. It got its name coz of a simple fact – once you let go of yourself off the edge, I’ll have to wait for a while, to catch you not before 1’m in haven! Just wondered, it could an excellent place for hang gliding…<br /><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>Pillar’s Rock</strong></span><br /><br /><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai012.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai012.jpg" border="0" /></a>You find not one, or two, but three 400 feet plus tall rocks, standing next to each other forming the edge of a hill. They looked like someone had just put them there, as a support for all the clouds that hovered above them. </span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><p><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Life on Edge</span></strong><br /><br />I’m not able to recall <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai013.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai013.jpg" border="0" /></a>what this place was called, but then, who cares for the name after all. We simply went down the slope till we found ourselves on the edge yet again. But this was different. This thing was jutting out of the main hill like a nose. The view was simply splendid; steep valley in the background with the clouds conquering the mighty mountains…<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Bird's eye view of the Kodai Lake</span></strong><br /><br />On<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai014.1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai014.1.jpg" border="0" /></a> our way back from the ‘Pillars’ and ‘noses’, we were hunting for what they called ‘Devil’s Kitchen’. But all we came across was a diversion that said ‘Top Lake View’. We deviated off track, and it was not long before we found ourselves at the view point. Few photo shoots and we were off, back to the cottage. We were to go to the Forest Officer now, to get a perm for entering the forest area engulfing the Berijam Lake. </p><p><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><strong>Towards the Berijam Lake</strong></span><br /><br />The Timings are restricted till <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai015.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai015.jpg" border="0" /></a>11am to procure an entry to the guarded region. Thanks to Milind, Mohan and a considerate Forest Officer, we got a special letter allowing us inside. Just as we were about to enter the restricted area, we realized that this place was in fact less than a kilometer ahead of the ‘nose’ that we had been to. <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai016.2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai016.2.jpg" border="0" /></a>Little did we know what lied ahead to welcome us in the forest area…<br /><br />The clouds and mist had been avoiding us till now. It was time to settle our differences and embrace each other. <a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai017.0.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai017.0.jpg" border="0" /></a>What followed was a treat for anyone coming to Kodai. More than the Berijam Lake, we liked the road taken. Spotted with viewpoints and misty stretches, this was just beyond our dreams… we were kids again, running and sprinting and making all sorts of poses for the camera!<br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">Devil’s Kitchen</span></strong><br /><br />What<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Kodai018.2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left;" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Kodai018.2.jpg" border="0" /></a> we thought didn’t exist finally shown up on our way back. We had previously ignored this place saying, ‘Dangerous Place, Do not enter’. This time, however, we stopped over and asked the passers by. Bingo! We had hit the bull’s eye, for this indeed was the place. We kind of felt silly for the sign board initially. Once at the actual spot, we realized why the place was called so… We found ourselves probably at the top of one of those ‘pillars’. Out of no where, surfaced these deep cracks or caverns that led all the way to the bottom of the pillars – once you slide into one of them, even devil himself can't save you!<br /><br /><strong>Way Back</strong><br /><br />Once back from Devil’s Kitchen, we went to a kitchen that would serve our food, Tava, a place that serves decent North Indian Veg food. Bidding good bye to the Silver Cascades, we were on our way down the hill. Mohan took over from me after half the decent, till we pulled over for our dinner. Once out, Milind, this time was fully determined to take the wheels home. He carried us till beyond Salem. He judged his ‘sleep’ to perfection! This was not at all expected from him, coz he, I assumed, was one of those guys who would go to any extent to prove them. Well, for me, he more than proved a point – that beyond that ‘reckless’ driver, there was this guy who knew his limits and put safety above all. I was really impressed! I then took over the wheel with Abdulla joining me on the front seat. The rest of the journey was uneventful, barring those 4kmph and 4.01kmph races between those overloaded trucks in between Krishnagiri and Bangalore! God knows when would these people have brains to just form a train instead of completing with each other, and in process, blocking the other vehicles to overtake them…<br /><br />This trip reminded me of the one that I’d been to for Roseville to LA; the same enthusiasm and energy level.<br />Glimpses of the Kodai trip can be found <a href="http://gfactor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album41">here</a>…</p></span><p></p>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-1139904417995391702006-02-14T00:02:00.000-08:002006-02-15T22:13:23.546-08:002006-02-11: Shravanbelagola, Ranganthittu & Brindavan Garden<span style="font-family:georgia;">It happens once in 12 years.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">Its one of the most sacred rituals for our Jain Society –</span> <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Mahamastakabhisheka of Lord Bahubali at Shravanbelagola</span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" ><br /><br /><br />The start</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />The ‘plan’ (if we can call it one) was finalized</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> very much at EOD (end of day) of 10th. This time, yet again, it was only 2 of us, Abdulla and I. Milind had other plans. He was to go to Ranibennur </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">for his friend’s wedding. Thanks to our unofficial Central Karnataka guide, Raghu (our colleague and mentor here, @hp), we were kind of sure that we would not be spending the entire day at</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Shravanbelagola0001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Shravanbelagola0001.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Shravanbelagola. He had mentioned that we may</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> take an alternate route via Srirangapattna. Well, we took his advise, though not exactly in the way he would have expected</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> (more on </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">this later).</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">We started close to 7 in the morning on the next day on my bike. Thanks to the nearly deserted Ring</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Road Jn after</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Yeswantpur, we had crossed</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Nelamangala by 8am.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" ><br /><br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >A known Caller</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />9am. We were feasting on delicious Kesari Bhaat. Just as I was waiting for Masala Dosa to pitch in, I took my cell out; it showed me having missed a call. It was a familiar no, it was Milind. I dialed back.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" ><br />“Hey Milind, where are you rite now?”</span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" ><br />“I’m taking my breakfast right now.”</span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" ><br />“Same here, having Dosa.”</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >“Am at home, visiting my friend @ Rani</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >bennur got c</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >ancelled. When are you starting for Shravanbelago</span><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >la, coz I’ll also join you.”</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >“We are in Kunigal (~90kms from Bangalore)…”<br /></span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >“Oh Sh**! I missed it! Anyway, what’s your program?”<br /></span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >“Will be reaching Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary around 3pm, once we are done with Shravanbelagola.”<br /></span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >“Great! I’ll join you there then. My friend, Mohan, will also be coming along…”<br /></span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >“Ok, see you then!”</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />So, Milind was not going to be away from us after all!</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" ><br /><br /><br />The Uphill Task</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" ><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Once</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Shravanbelagola0009.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Shravanbelagola0009.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> we reached SB</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> (enough of ShravanBelagola!!), our n</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">ext job was to get the darshan of Lord Bahubali, a.k.a. Lord Gomteshwara. His Statue, the</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> largest standing monolith in the world, is about 60 feet tall, and rests atop the Vindhya Gir</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">i hill in SB. One has to climb more than thousand steps to get to him. It took us ‘some’ effort and</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> about half an hour before we found ourselves at his feet. Well, kind of sad, you may call us being unprepared – the temporary platform set up in fron</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">t of him is accessible only to those who take a pass for INR7</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">50 in advance. All we got was a little glimpse in the ‘through-fare’. Not satisfied, but contended.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" ><br /><br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Off to Srirangapattna</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />We detained</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> our plan to take lunch at SB </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">till we found a good ‘dhaaba’. Gulped down some sugarcane</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Srirangapattana0001.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Srirangapattana0001.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> juice follow</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">ed by ‘badaam’ milked, a</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">nd off we went. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Thanks to the event occurring only once in 12 years, the government successfully managed to get the roads back in shape. All of 50+ kms were done within 1 hour. All we missed was a good place to find food. Srirangapattna came to rescue. The meal followed wit</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">h a small sight seen into the capital</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> fort city of Tipu Sultan. Though, n</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">ot many</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> photos could be taken, all my camera batteries had gone dead, and the alkaline ones were not all that promising!</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" ><br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" ><br />Inside Ranganthittu</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">It was exactly 3pm when we entered the bird sanct</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">uary. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Ranganthittu0004.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Ranganthittu0004.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">Milind called up, but the news was not all that great. H</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">e informed that it would take him another hour or more to catch us. Not waiting for him, </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">we started for the all famous boat ride. Till we got into a boat, the only bird that we found was, well, the crow! Once onboard, I was seriously missing my SLR camera, and its new 75-300mm lens! The Siberian Cranes were the most populous of them all, though; there </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">were quite a fe</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Ranganthittu0006.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Ranganthittu0006.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">w other birds as well. One thing that was not to be missed was the crocodile, or the ‘magar’. I’d never seen so lazy ones in my entire life! Nothing used</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> to flatter them – the boats and the birds treated alike. For that matter, even the birds h</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">ad a sense of indifference to the humans around. They simply wore that typical ‘I don’t care’ attitude!</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Enter Milind & Mohan</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />Milind lived up to his reputation of being as late as possible. </span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Ranganthittu0009.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Ranganthittu0009.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;">He showed up only at 5:50pm, 10 minutes</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Picture%20059.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Picture%20059.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> before they stop entry into the sanctuary! </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">He was bound to miss the boat ride, and</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> he did miss it. Even after quite a bit of persuasion, he was not successful in getti</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">ng the bo</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">ating guy along… We s</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">tayed there till it got dark, and then, in magnificent moon-light, proceeded to</span><span style="font-family:georgia;">wards our last stop for the day, Brindavan Garden.</span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" ><br /><br /><br />The Light Show</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">We</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Picture%20074.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Picture%20074.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> found ourselves at the entrance of the famous garden around 7:20pm. This was the precise time that I had come here last, with my Sis. Just</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> like the last time, we were not allowed to go on the Krishna Raja Sagar Dam; </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">entry is prohibited from that direction. Now, the only way to enter</span><span style="font-family:georgia;"> the park is directly near the sluice gate reservoir. The only difference this time was the</span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/Picture%20087.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Picture%20087.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:georgia;"> timing of illumination:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Monday – Friday:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >After dark till 7:55pm (instead of 7:25pm)</span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >Saturday – Sunday:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >After dark till 8:55pm (instead of 8:25pm)</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">As usual, the lights provided a spectacular view. We noticed that the sluice gate reservoir had been completely drained out and some de-silting kind of activity was going on near the North Side of Garden.<br /><br /></span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" >The return journey</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /><br />We started around 9pm from the Garden, and after some 1 and half hours found ourselves in Maddur, feasting on some ordinary dinner. Yes, I didn’t misuse the word – feasting we were, as all of us were just so hungry! The break was a pretty long one. Apart form this, there was only 1 break, for tea near Bidadi. Milind and Mohan parted ways with us at the beginning of Lalbagh Road. I was not home before 2:25am, as I dropped Abdulla at his place around 2:10.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">Exactly 420kms done for the day and bottom still not complaining! This time was really different – The ghost of bad roads (which ALWAYS accompanies Abdulla) somehow didn’t find a great company in us. May be, it was Lord Bahubali’s blessings that did the trick for us…<br /><br />The photos can be found <a href="http://gfactor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album39">here</a>.<br /></span>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-1136470741300436582006-01-05T06:13:00.000-08:002006-02-09T01:06:11.573-08:002005-12-28: Karwar & Goa<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">9 days of furlough @hp.</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">4 out of 9 days already used up to visit ‘Malgudi’!</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">5 days remaining. Got to drive during day time only because of ongoing winter…</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">But one thing that never came out of our minds was GOA!</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">We had been waiting for this for a long time and <a href="http://static.flickr.com/41/80890132_b16a8c13ca.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/41/80890132_b16a8c13ca.jpg" border="0" /></a>one of two incidences were not going to keep us back…</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">December 28th, tripped the odometer and off we were! The ARM was devoid of M – Milind, who was off to Pune with his parents.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">This time, two guys on one bike. There was simply no space for nightmares in mind, just one thing, no points for guessing – GOA, what else!</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Time to deviate</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">We <a href="http://static.flickr.com/39/80890583_044b428f08.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/39/80890583_044b428f08.jpg" border="0" /></a>got a call from Milind, suggesting us to take a deviation to Karwar instead of directly entering Goa via Londa. I liked the idea and our ‘planned’ trip went off track. But then, this was the last GOOD suggestion that we had from Milind!</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" >The never ending saga</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Once we crossed Chitradurga, there was no sign of Hubli, our next biggest stop and the deviating point. When leaving Bangalore, I saw a board mentioning “Hubli 360kms”. <a href="http://static.flickr.com/43/80890327_ccfa9ab9dc.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/43/80890327_ccfa9ab9dc.jpg" border="0" /></a>According to calculations, as we had already covered ~210kms, Hubli was only 150kms! But it would not be the case, as we later found out… with all the sign boards removed from the road and Hubli being no where in sight even after 170kms, frustration was starting to tell through our faces. It was never the distance, but the ignorance that we were getting annoyed at. Then, as I saw the VRL depot, I knew that we had finally made it. So much so, that when we posed at the Hubli-Dharwad Bypass hoarding, we had surely given Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay a run for their money!</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Enter Karwar</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">I had<a href="http://static.flickr.com/39/80890654_92a383219b.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/39/80890654_92a383219b.jpg" border="0" /></a> a silent desire to ride on this part of NH-17 on the western coast every since I had been <a href="http://gfactor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album22">here with Neeraj</a>. Though we couldn’t benefit from the view it would have put forward, still was very satisfactory. Once we reached Karwar, I just happened to look at the Odometer, it said 603kms. A record for me in a day, which was soon to be bettered…</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>Being in Goa</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a href="http://static.flickr.com/39/80884242_f3211c7a78.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/39/80884242_f3211c7a78.jpg" border="0" /></a>This was the experience we were longing for. From hills to valleys, from villages to towns and from beaches to babes! More on this in <a href="http://neolore.blogspot.com/2006/01/goa-travelogue-2005.html">Abdulla’s excerpt</a>.</span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;"><strong>On our way back – Initial set back</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">It was ages that I’d seen a Sun Rise. Doing it on the New Year’s Day was a feeling that would long be cherished! A new beginning to life. A new beginning to my odometer too, literally, because it read 001km! we had done more than 1000 kms from the time we had set out for Goa.</span> <a href="http://static.flickr.com/38/80889586_6da88ec227.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/38/80889586_6da88ec227.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Thanks to Milind’s latest suggestion (for which he was made to feel sorry later on), we took the Panjim -> Ponda -> Londa -> Belgaum -> Hubli route to Bangalore. No doubt, the Ghat section in between Ponda and Londa was just too good, but all the good things regarding this route ended here. Some time after we entered Karnataka, we suddenly found ourselves within nowhere. With only huge dumpers on road (road is a misnomer here, I should rather say, relative empty spaces in between trees, occupied with dense red dust, huge boulders and broken down vehicles), we entered straight into hell! Normal road was simply no where to be seen, nor anyone on road who could confirm that we were still on ‘an excellent’ NH-4A (as mentioned by Milind)! After some 20+ kms and nearly 1 and half hours of struggle, we reached Ramnagar. Without any second thoughts, we took the shortcut to Hubli-Dharwad, a 63 kms of non-existing road which would save at least 90kms (if we would have gone via Belgaum). After some road-hunting (analogous to treasure hunting) and more than 2 hours of concentration, we found ourselves back on the Dharwad-Hubli Bypass road.</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Continuing forward</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">After a total of around 16 hours of drive, we found ourselves in the heart of Bangalore. <a href="http://static.flickr.com/38/80889968_7dfe7a5406.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/38/80889968_7dfe7a5406.jpg" border="0" /></a>Drained physically, but not mentally, we decided to drop in at Brigade Road for our last bit of photo session. 10 minutes later, I was dropping off Abdulla at his place in Jayanagar. When I reached home, the odometer said 643kms. We had done a ~1650kms in the past 5 days. I was tired, but very satisfied. Its time to let the bottoms take a mini break. But the stress would be on ‘mini’, as till I have people like Abdulla around me, no trip is big enough to hold me back for long. His sheer presence, support and sense of humor had made all the difference; this otherwise lengthy trip made to look small and easy, something impossible if he wouldn’t be around.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">The photos can be found <a href="http://gfactor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album38">here</a>!</span>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-1136466610452194642006-01-05T05:05:00.000-08:002006-02-09T02:29:56.626-08:002005-12-24: Malgudi Days<span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">“Ta na na tana na na na</span><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold">Ta na na tana na na na …”<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">This is what was on my lips when we started for Agumbe on the morning of 24th December. Shiv had come down from Hyderabad just for this trip.</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">“I’m planning a break for the upcoming <img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 10px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="Bhagamandala@Coorg" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/Coorg023.jpg" border="0" />Christmas Hols and flying down to Bangalore, but see to it that I don’t spend the entire time in Bangalore!”, were his words minutes after he got his flight tickets confirmed. I was more than happy to oblige my partner in my first ever Bike Trip (to </span><a style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia" href="http://gfactor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album29">Coorg</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">).</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Shiv had arrived on 23rd afternoon, as per his schedule. The only thing that was to be finalized was WHERE. After spending something like 5 minutes discussing the destination, Agumbe was finalized. For those who don’t know, this was the place where Shankar Nag’s famous “Malgudi Days” was shot.</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" >The start</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">We started in morning, instead of the general night <a href="http://static.flickr.com/41/80903825_5a0957d68e.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/41/80903825_5a0957d68e.jpg" border="0" /></a>time, owing to the already set winter. The drive till Chickmangalur was pretty smooth and uneventful. There were some stops for taking food and of course the photographs in Sun Flower fields. It was only after Chickmangalur that we found<a href="http://static.flickr.com/38/80904126_92e5b328bd.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/38/80904126_92e5b328bd.jpg" border="0" /></a> the roads depleted. Once we entered those fantastic coffee estates, everything was good but for the road. The Bhadra River presented a spectacular view, easily enviable by the Kerela lagoons. We were starting to get worried whether we would be able to reach Agumbe to see it world famous Sun Set.</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" >The Breath Taking Moment</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">As we reached Agumbe, it was already six o’clock. We thought that we had lost it; missing it by whisker. But destiny had something else in store for us. <a href="http://static.flickr.com/38/80904378_475e16dc11.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/38/80904378_475e16dc11.jpg" border="0" /></a>The road was fully enveloped by tall trees on either side of road with sun lost some where behind them. Then suddenly or rather miraculously, the trees got separated opening up the sky right in front of us, with the road virtually coming to an abrupt end and a giant Red Ball coming down on us. What a moment! All the 455kms done from Bangalore till now were more than justified… The two us just carried on, speechless. The Sun Set Point/Platform was around the corner, but we had already seen what we had come for. One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life till now…</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Night Halt</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Once <a href="http://static.flickr.com/42/80904981_54530e8c8f.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/42/80904981_54530e8c8f.jpg" border="0" /></a>the sun had set, we started the climb down, negotiating those steep 13 hair-pin curves and some 10 odd kilometers before we found ourselves in Hebri. Some tedious negotiations with the Hotel guy and dumping our bag in the room, we were off for a much deserved dinner to a near by garden restaurant. What followed was one of the best dinners I have had.</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Bad Beginning</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">We were on the road by 7am the next day. Destination – the Sitanadi River Camp (4kms from Hebri), for White Water Rafting. But we didn’t get a <a href="http://static.flickr.com/38/80905035_38cdd464aa.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/38/80905035_38cdd464aa.jpg" border="0" /></a>welcome there. We were informed that the water level in the river had fallen down enough to make rafting impossible; the Varahi Dam upstream being responsible. Now, what to do next? Thankfully, while we were trying to chalk out the itinerary for the rest of the day, we saw this house nearby. There was this very hospitable couple, Mrs. & Mr. Reddy, who gave us a warm welcome and helped us out with a plan for the rest of the day, not to forget the big bottle of water offered!</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Something Fishy</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">We <a href="http://static.flickr.com/36/80905616_cf412de05e.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/36/80905616_cf412de05e.jpg" border="0" /></a>were on our way to Shringeri, up the Agumbe Ghats, around 40kms away. Once we reached there, it was a whole new experience. The place was cleaner than expected. Without wasting much time, we went in search of the famous ‘Fish Bank’. There’s this place on the banks of River Tunga, where devotees offer prasadam to the fish in water. One will be amazed to see the density and size of fishes that are there. Just unbelievable! There were just too many of them! The scene just went way beyond the hype that accompanies it. We spent more than 2 hrs here before proceeding towards our next and final stop over before returning back to Bangalore.</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Good ways are back again</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Once out of Shringeri, we were greeted by good road once again. We were on NH-13 and on our way to Dharmasthala, another pilgrimage of very high importance in South India. On our way, we went through the picturesque Kudremukh National Park. The evergreen forests (as we were told) were just mind blowing. We say the last of NH-13 once we came down a Ghat section on the national highway.</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" >In Dharmasthala</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">We were not lucky enough to get the Darshan at temple here. <a href="http://static.flickr.com/36/80906712_c001f77ffa.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/36/80906712_c001f77ffa.jpg" border="0" /></a>The temple doors were closed till 5 o’clock and that would have been just too late for us to start back for Bangalore. <a href="http://static.flickr.com/43/80906757_c07e959098.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/43/80906757_c07e959098.jpg" border="0" /></a>Thanks to Ananth, we knew that there were other things here which would be of our interest. The Car Museum and the statue of Lord Bahubali atop a small hill were simply worth seeing.</span><br /><br /><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:georgia;" >Coming back</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">The journey<a href="http://static.flickr.com/37/80906923_c596ef1c5c.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/37/80906923_c596ef1c5c.jpg" border="0" /></a> was pretty smooth once again, thanks some major repair work taken up on Shiradi Ghats (which were literally unmotorable during my last stint, </span><a style="FONT-FAMILY: georgia" href="http://gomia.blogspot.com/2005/10/2005-10-08-puncture-trip.html">Puncture Trip</a><span style="font-family:georgia;">). <a href="http://static.flickr.com/38/80907187_20f755108d.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://static.flickr.com/38/80907187_20f755108d.jpg" border="0" /></a>We had left a deficit of 7kms to complete 900kms when we got back home in Bangalore. This was a ‘pilot’ trip to the oncoming ‘biggie’, but never the less very exciting, and by far the biggest round trip I had done on my bike!<br /><br />The photos can be found <a href="http://gfactor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album37">here</a>!<br /><br /><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span><span style="font-family:georgia;"></span>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-1131717557331857322005-11-03T05:57:00.000-08:002005-11-11T05:59:17.350-08:00Bang to Bhag! Trip of lifetime<p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;">“The train won’t be able to get you to Chennai in time. Also, its raining heavily out there. Be careful…” were the words that Satish spoke out when he heard my plans of visiting <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Bhagalpur</st1:place></st1:City>, my home town. It was 2 o’clock in the afternoon of 27<sup>th</sup> October. According to my plan, I was scheduled to leave by the night train, Chennai Mail, for Chennai, where I needed to board Coromandel Express for <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Howrah</st1:place></st1:City> at 9am. There was a disruption in rail traffic to Chennai due to a mishap near Bangarpet, about 60kms from <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Bangalore</st1:place></st1:City>. As a result, the trains bound to Chennai were diverted through <st1:place st="on"><st1:city st="on">Salem</st1:City></st1:place>, making the total journey time to Chennai double of normal time, nearly 10 hours.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;"><o:p> </o:p>It was raining ‘Bulls and Cows’ as I finally decided to make a move from office around 4pm. But I was prepared – equipped with a water resistant jacket, a Bermuda and <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Woodland</st1:place></st1:City>’s sandals. Yes, that was my dress code for office that day! I went home, packed my bag, had an early dinner and was off in, well, not exactly a flash, but then, I tried my level best to be quick! By 7:30pm, I found myself at Kempegowda Bus Terminus, searching desperately for a ticket in any Chennai bound bus. After some great tussle and hustle, I finally managed to get an Airavat (a KSRTC Volvo bus) ticket for 10:10 departure. The bus left only by 10:45pm, but I was not bothered, as I trusted the bus to make it to Chennai latest by 6 next morning. I was not disappointed; I found myself in Chennai at 5:15. The bus was late by an hour but no one was complaining!<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;">As I got down of the city bus (that I boarded from the interstate bus terminus to avoid the flooded streets), it was nearly 6. Glad to be in Chennai Central (railway station), I called up home, just to be informed that Babul Bhaiya (my cousin, staying in <st1:city st="on">Hyderabad</st1:City>) or BB hereby, was also reaching <st1:city st="on">Howrah</st1:City> on the same day as me, and that he would be taking the same train to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Bhagalpur</st1:place></st1:City>. I was more than glad, for I had not met him for more than 2 years! ‘What a time ahead of me!’ With the ‘worst’ part of my travel already over, I was really getting excited, wishing that the journey to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Howrah</st1:place></st1:City> would have been 4hours instead of the normal 1day and 4hours! What I wasn’t aware of was of course the great journey ahead of me… A journey 1 of its kind!!<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;">As I entered the station, I saw never ending queues of Homo sapiens at all the ticket counters! It looked as if they were distributing free tickets!! Puzzled, as I moved forward towards the Ticket Status Enquiry phone booths, I noticed that none except one of the electronic displays was working. To my irritation, same was the case for the enquiry booths; I had to check the allotted berth (as I was wait-listed when I bought the ticket, but got a confirmation just before I started for Chennai). As I diverted my attention to the ‘last man standing’, the display board was flashing a list of all delayed and cancelled trains. ‘Ah! Just because of 1 train mishap, a hell lot of trains have been affected!’ But wait! I was about to get the first shock of the morning! The very first name was ‘Tamil Nadu Express’. Now I knew that this train was not <st1:city st="on">Bangalore</st1:City> bound, but in fact was to go towards <st1:city st="on">Vijayawada</st1:City> (with final destination as <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">New Delhi</st1:place></st1:City>), which was the precise route I was to go on… As I read the list further down, terror stuck – the last train number read as follows: <b style="">2842</b>, Coromandel Express was also in the list! What a waste!! Firstly, they had not informed me in advance about the cancellation, and secondly, they could have delayed the train in worst case. Then it dawned to me – the queue at the ticket counter was not for getting tickets, but for getting full refund of the tickets already purchased!! ‘Why did they cancel the train just because Chennai was flooded? Once we move out of the city, it would have been fine again! I had a buffer of 8 hours of transit time in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Howrah</st1:place></st1:City>…’<o:p><br /></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;">Just as proceeding towards Tirupati started to take shape, someone informed that ‘Andaman Express’ (bound to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Delhi</st1:place></st1:City> via same route as Tamil Nadu Express) was about to leave from platform no 9. I was quick to grab the opportunity and with some luck found the train moving by 6:30! I called up BB to update him of my situation.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;">‘I’ll be there in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Vijayawada</st1:place></st1:City> by 2:30pm’<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;">‘But my train, Falaknuma Express is also scheduled for a delayed start of around 2 hours, thanks to heavy rain in Visakhapatanam!’<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;">So THAT was the problem of all these cancellations… I wondered.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;">‘If you get a train for Howrah in quick time, don’t wait for me in Vijayawada, as I may reach there only around 1 o’clock at night!’, continued BB.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;">‘As you say…’ I murmured.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;">‘Once you are about to reach <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Vijayawada</st1:place></st1:City>, give me a ring.’<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;">‘Ok.’<br /></span></p> <p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"><br />---More to come!<br /><span style="font-size: 10pt; color: navy;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-1129543451990820412005-10-17T03:01:00.000-07:002005-10-18T01:52:10.136-07:002005-10-08: The 'Puncture' trip<span style="font-family:georgia;">“Veer tum bade chalo, dheer tum badhe chalo</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Samne pahaad ho, ya singh ki dahaad ho…”</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">This classic was the poem for the three musketeers. These three were – Abdulla, Rishi and Milind or ARM! </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">This was the first ever bike trip for A, while the first night drive for M. As for R, it was his first solo riding trip. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Yes, these guys were going on their individual bikes, no one wanted to miss out a kilometer by being a pillion for this time!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Destination – Marvanthe, to be traversed in two steps, Bangalore to Mysore and then Mysore to Marvanthe (via Hunsur, Kushalnagar, Madikeri & Manglore). To come back to Bangalore via Mangalore, Sakleshpur, Hassan & Nelmangala (NH-48). Return expected to Bangalore - around 2am on Monday.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Saturday, 3pm – For a change, NOTHING started well. My faith in the INSAT pictures shown in ‘The Hindu’ was completely shattered! Instead of a pin point stop, the entire sky went wickedly dark! Not more than 3 kms of the imposing 1000+ kms, all the sky wanted to come down on us; suddenly, we found ourselves in Bagalkot, amidst knee deep water which didn’t look to recede back. With very heavy rain and me drenched, it got only worse when I lost A & M. they were moving ahead of me; it was decided that if we get separated, we’ll all stop over after 20kms. 2kms before the newly coming up ‘Wonder Land’, I stopped. When I called them up, all I could make out was that they were behind me, and both were thankfully together. Just as I messaged them updating my location, there came a bus and my cell took a quick shower, or rather swim! Wanted to call them from a land line, so went ahead till Wonder Land deviation. To my dismay, my cell had already taken a toll by this time and my phone book was not readable. All seemed vague… till I saw a black Fiero with a familiar face under the helmet; It was A. soon M also came by and we were together again. Only one tragedy had stuck them, M had lost his headlight! After an uneventful journey, we finally reached the Mysore Palace at around 8pm.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">What a view it was! <a href="http://gfactor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album34">Last year</a>, when I and Mukesh had come to capture the lighting, we were ahead by one day; the lighting had started only the next day onwards. Asking a nearby shop-owner, we came to know that the Palace will be lit till 10:30pm that night. This meant that we had ample time to shoot it from around as well as from atop Chamundi Hills (about 10-12 kms from palace). Then came the mistake of the trip – we went ahead on a shopping spree, 3 identical pair of socks were purchased and were made to exchange places with our wet ones. 8:55pm, just as I took aim of the Palace, the lights went off!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">“How come the lights went off, some technical problem?”</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">“No sir, they are switched on only till 9pm, today they have put it down 5 minutes early…”</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">“But we were told that it stays on till 10:30pm!”</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">“That’s not correct, its there only till 9”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">It was all over for us, at least, for my camera! Another inspiration of returning to Mysore Dassera next year… </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">We went in the Palace premises at a time when everyone inside seemed to go in the opposite direction – OUT. Good for us, the photos were much neater than they would have otherwise.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">11:30pm. After a full meal and a trial at M’s headlight (in vain, as even though we had purchased the bulb, we didn’t have equipment to fit it on the new pulsar assembly L). We started off towards Kushalnagar, (hoping that we would find a mechanic shop open, but again didn’t succeed till next day morning). Reaching Hunsur was a pain. <a href="http://gfactor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album29">The last time</a> I had traversed this road about 2 years back (with Shiv), it was really good, I had done 70kms in flat 55 minutes. And… this WAS the SAME road, untouched by the PWD. It was very difficult to find it first, and when we actually found the ‘remains’, it was difficult to traverse. Fog further marred our speed. We did a mere 20kms/hr average for the 2 hours on road after Mysore. Better this to come! I suddenly realized that the road had become narrow. “Oh God! It has gone so bad that it has got shrunk too!” The most foolish thought to get into a moderately experienced biker! I could not recognize the road. Then, a bus over took us, written on its hind side was “Kannur”, a place in Kerela, south of Madikeri. Just as I really started getting suspicious, wonder happened. We were asked to stop at a check-post.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">“Where are you going at the middle of night?”</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">“Madikeri”</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">“Then what are you doing on this way?”<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Gosh!! We were indeed lost!<br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:georgia;">“Ok, no harm done, you can take the next right, and continue for 5kms. You’ll hit the Mysore-Kushalnagar road.”</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">“Thanks a lot sir!!”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">For the first time in my night travel history, I had got lost without suspecting it much!</span><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Finally, we were back on track, and reached Kushalnagar at 4am. Just as we crossed Nisargadhama, A stopped suddenly, “Check my rear tyre!” “Confirmed, lets go back to Kushalnagar…” For the first time in A’s bike history, any of its tyres had got punctured. With not a single repair shop open, we decided to call it a err… day!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">10am. We were at a repair shop. When we came out, A had a new tube for his rear tyre, and M had a new headlight. After some time, we were gazing at the amazing statues of Lord Buddha and his disciples at Namdyoling Tibetan Monastery. A quick brunch after that and we were off towards Harangi Dam. Though a bit late as we had come after the monsoons got over, the dam was still a splendid sight!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">3:30pm and we were off to Kuke Subramanya. Yes. Our plans had been modified by the morning break in Kushalnagar. Instead of continuing towards Marvanthe, we headed for Kuke, an important Hindu religious shrine on the foothills of Bisle Ghat. On the way, we passed through some very scenic and unique spots. E.g. the overhead canal bridge -- carrying water from Harangi Dam towards Mysore. After negotiating some very bad roads (which had become an intrinsic part of our trip), we reached the Bisle Ghat entrance. Its closed after 6pm for the entire night due to animal movement. We were lucky! We marginally made it, at 6:15pm.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">That was one of the most enjoyable stretches of the entire trip. Light drizzle and those amazing, spectacular clouds!! Oh, it still gives me those shivers… The Ghat constituted of some wicked hairpin bends, and very thin roads. So thin that at few places, the over grown grass on either side of road were cris-crossing each other. As those 28kms of Ghat came to an end, we reached a junction which said, “Kuke, 4kms” towards right.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">8:15pm. After taking our dinner, we went to the temple and had a darshan. Strangely enough, we didn’t get the prasadam; “Counter has been closed for the day!”</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">9.00pm. All three were ready to start the last leg of our trip. All this while, we were traveling away from Bangalore. It was time that we headed back. But again, not so easily… “Hey, you have a flat tyre!” Victim – A again!! Not once in 1 and half years, and twice in a day! It was his rear tyre again. 2 hours of ordeal in finding a repair shop and getting things back, and we finally were on our way back journey.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Those 20kms of non-existent road till Gudili didn’t bother us much, as we knew that once on NH-48, we would sail through. Gudili came and Gudili went. All we got was a glimpse of good road. As soon as we entered the all famous Shiradi Ghats, it was a familiar picture. Once again, NO ROADS!! And no road it was till the next 40kms, i.e. till we reached Sakleshpur. Once there, it was the NH-48 we had heard of – smooth as silk. Fog yet again saw to it that we didn’t go beyond 60kmph. Result – an amazing mileage by my bike. Rarely has it given me more than 50kmpl on highways!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">If you think the story’s over, then you are fooled J. 5am, and it was my time to get a feel of ‘puncture’ fever. “Not in nearly 3 years, and now today at this point of time. Exchanging bikes with M (owing to his feather-light built), we continued till we found a 24-hour repair shop. Some drama it was, to persuade the guy to wake up and attend to our cause!! 1 more hour down the drain and we were back on road. Only this time, THERE WAS NO PUNCTURE!! The tube was still intact. It was indeed, just a fever…</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Just as we entered Bangalore, finally at 9:15am (instead of 4am), A’s bike refused to start after he had put it off (I was on call). 5 minutes (after a small wire came to our rescue to by-pass the ignition switch) and we finally headed towards our homes. That was the last piece in the big cake of adventure called our ‘Puncture’ trip!! A and I managed to resume office the same day while M took a much deserved FTO.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:georgia;">Photos are now at <a href="http://gfactor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album35">myphotoalbum</a>.</span>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-1128322588366336842005-10-02T23:23:00.000-07:002007-02-04T09:34:43.346-08:002005-10-01: Biking in Pondicherry<p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal">My phone rang late at night; 0413-XXXXXXX was the number flashing on my cell. "Somewhere in Tamil Nadu, must be a wrong number..." As I pressed the green button on my cell and put the cell near my ears, a very familiar voice was on the other side. "Hey!! I'm here in Pondy, and you are coming here to visit me, and coming this weekend!!" It was Arnab. One trip together to Patna Rifle Shooting Competition with our parents had brought us together... that was more than 21 years back; we were still in nursery at that time!<br /><br />It was already 10:30PM, and being a Friday night, it was impossible to get a bus ticket that late. Gloomy skies had already truncated any plans of riding down those ~300kms to Pondy on Bike :(. To add to it, few of my friends were coming down from <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Hyderabad</st1:place></st1:city> to see me next morning... I had already given them commitment and could not turn it down now - they would have already be half way to <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Bangalore</st1:place></st1:city> by now.<br /><br />"I would try to start tomorrow some time, shall confirm the time before I leave." "Fine, BUT, you ARE coming!" "Ok baba, done!" It was more than two years that we had met last (in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Kolhapur</st1:place></st1:city>). That was the end of Friday.<br /><br />Saturday morning, and I was done with the <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Hyderabad</st1:place></st1:city> commitment by 12:15PM. By the time I reached back home, it was already 2:05PM, thanks to the EPIC, COLOSSAL etc etc traffic jam situation all over the city... Just managed to get the second last seat in a 3PM PSTC Volvo. After stuffing my bag with minimum clothes, my Camera (how can I leave it behind!!) and the Nike Cap that I had bought for Arnab while I was at <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Roseville</st1:place></st1:city>. My roomie Amit volunteered to drop me to the Bus Stand. Thanks to his skillful driving, we meandered through a dead stop traffic and reached the bus JIT (yes, Just In Time!) at 3PM.<br /><br />21:08PM and I was standing in front of JIPMER. After some 5 minutes, Arnab came in on his security guard's bicycle! Once we finished our dinner, it was shopping time!! With a total of 4kms of length covered within the next 50 minutes on foot and then 1.5 kms on his 'bike', we were grinning ear to ear! We had our scalp with us. One more thing to be said here... Arnab, though thinner than me, is still very fit; its not easy to tow a 90+ kgs guy on an Atlas Goldline!<br />As our 'gup' session finally took a break at 3AM, it was time to get some well deserved rest for what lied ahead on the next day for us.<br /><br />11:45AM. After having a moderate breakfast and hunting around for my return ticket to <st1:city st="on">Bangalore</st1:city> for a good hour, we were about to start for the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Pondy</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Beach</st1:placetype></st1:place>. We also had with us Dhur Jyoti, the roomie of Arnab at his guest house. It was time to burn some fat with us mounting these three rickety but functional 'definition' bikes - Atlas Goldline with 'Semi rickshaw tyres for extra life' at a modest rental of INR2.00 per hour. No deposits, but Arnab had to surrender his Company ID Card for that.<br /><br />12:15PM. We were trying to beat the heat of a hot Pondy Sun at the beach, if you can call it a beach... mostly studded with huge boulders with a pinch of sand right in the middle of the shoreline stretch. To our ill luck, the Aurobindo Ashram nearby was closed for afternoon cleaning up. After gulping down a Choco-vanilla ice-cream cone each, we were off towards <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Auroville</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Beach</st1:placetype></st1:place>, about 7kms on the Chennai bound <st1:street st="on"><st1:address st="on">Eastern Express Road</st1:address></st1:street>. By the time we reached the Beach junction, we learnt that the Auroville 'city' was another 8kms from there.<br />All of us knew that even if we somehow managed to reach the city on our bikes, we would definitely not be able to make it back to Pondy bike rental shop... After all, riding a bike after a gap of nearly six years, and that too for such a humbling distance was no joke for us!<br /><br />We had our lunch in a hut Restaurant near by <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Auroville</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Beach</st1:placetype></st1:place>. The restaurant owner was kind enough to assure us that we could leave our bikes locked there, and that we will be safe there.<br /><br />After negotiating with the auto rickshaw for INR 70 for dropping us to the city, we reached our destination around 3:30PM. To our disappointment, the main attraction of Auroville, the MaatriMandir - the temple for all, above all religions preaching humanity and nothing else was not accessible. The entry closes at 12:45PM on Sundays (and not at 4:30PM, like on other days of week). We went around the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Information</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>, and then took a mini tour of various means of them producing renewable energy. The video shown at the IC about the upcoming of Auroville was also very captivating! After grabbing Soda Lime at the cafeteria there, we started back towards the Beach.<br /><br />Its one of the best beaches that I've seen in <st1:place st="on"><st1:country-region st="on">India</st1:country-region></st1:place>, with pretty 'surfable' waves coming in every now and then. There were a couple of guys trying to put the waves to the exact use! Just one glitch here, not all of the beach was accessible to us, there seemed to be a restricted area right in the middle on the beach length. I was really disappointed for not able to traverse the entire length of the beach, from one end to the other. More so because we knew that it was already too late to get an entry in the Aurobindo Ashram back in Pondy (it closes at 6:15PM) as it was already 5:30PM. By the time we came back to the restaurant and started back after a cup of tea, it was nearly 6 o'clock. And this was not the end of it... Dhur's front 'Semi rickshaw tyres for extra life' gave in. Later in the puncture repair shop, it was revealed that the culprit was not one but two repairs, overlapping on each other. So in went the third layer of vulcanized rubber and we were back on track after a delay of 20 minutes. We came back to the <st1:place st="on"><st1:placename st="on">Pondy</st1:placename> <st1:placetype st="on">Beach</st1:placetype></st1:place> and spent some time there. The entire stretch was very well lit, with some special work around the statue of MG; wondering whether it’s always like that or because of that day being his birthday. The atmosphere was very well like a fair there.<br /><br />Clicking through the place, we were finally back at the bike shop. A supreme figure of INR 48 was levied on us as the rental for our 3 bikes... After a moderate dinner, we were back at Arnab's guesthouse. Sanity returned as I took bath; the Pondy weather had taken its toll on me... being in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Bangalore</st1:place></st1:city> for six years has indeed made my body not as tough as it used to be earlier... 10:27PM, and the bus was on time at JIPMER. Morning 4:37 AM, and I was taking the morning walk from the Silk Board Jn to my house in Koramangala in <st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on">Bangalore</st1:place></st1:city>... It came and went past very quickly, but the Pondy experience was worth every bit of it! <span style=";font-size:10;color:navy;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-1127367930805888422005-09-21T22:45:00.000-07:002005-09-21T23:14:30.973-07:00FlickrYou may visit <a href="http://www.flickr.com/r/testpost"><img height="18" alt="flickr" src="http://www.flickr.com/images/flickr_logo_blog.gif" width="41" align="absMiddle" border="0" /></a> to view few of my shared photos.Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16963008.post-1127300828278732612005-09-21T03:41:00.000-07:002006-02-10T01:42:29.386-08:002005-09-17: Trip to TungaBhadra Dam & Hampi<span style="font-size:100%;"><br /></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Here I am, with the first ever blog!!</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">And with an account of my last trip, during the just gone weekend!! </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">As been the case with me, there seemed no way for my trip to Hampi getting materialized.</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">As you might be knowing, Hampi was the capital city of Vijaynagar Empire, and flourished during Krishna Dev Raya (associated with the legendary Tenali Ram).</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">For more details, you may visit </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a href="http://www.karnataka.com/tourism/hampi/">http://www.karnataka.com/tourism/hampi/</a></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><a href="http://www.karnataka.com/tourism/hampi/" target="_blank">www.karnataka.com/tourism/hampi/</a>.</span><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">I was down and out with last minute backing out of my so called 'would be pillions' (one of the things I have to face while you are not there in Bangalore). </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">So much so, that when I got a 'no'</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> from the 'last man standing' in my office, I made up my mind that I would go on this 350+ kms trip all alone. Raghu (my mentor @hp) had put ehough onus on to me to visit Hampi, and especially Tungabahadra Dam. He is from Hospet, the nearby town and I could take his words for granted anyday! Coming back, I knew that a lone ride might turn out to be boring, but I had faith in my bike and my camera equipment to give me support and company... </span><span style="font-family:georgia;">Friday 5:30pm, and in came Anil (one of my office colleagues) with a casual and pleasant 'haan, theek hai, chalte hain'!! So it was now to be decided whether we departed on the same night or try something new -- leave next day early morning at 4am. In the end, it was yet another piece of joy waiting for me as </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">we took off at 11:45pm, exactly the same time that I and Mukesh had left for <a href="http://gfactor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album23" target="_blank">Jog and Honnemardu</a>; incedently, this was again at moonlit night with stars shining bright and we were to go in the very same direction from Bangalore (till Tumkur). The only thing I was hoping not to be the same were those TWO+ HOURS OF RAIN that we had encountered during journey to Jog! And this time, recalling Hanuman Ji helped, as it stayed that way, moonlit with stars with clear skies thought the journey! Boy, how I love driving at night :)</span> </span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br />The next part of the story is a bit twisted. Twisted in a sense that w</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">e got all our assumptions regard</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">ing our travel </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">time wrong! It was planned (Have I ever PLANNE</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">D my trips ever???) </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">that this journey of ~350kms would take about 8 to</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> 9 hours, considering that we would be moving slow through the night. Once in Hospet (our base town for Hampi and TungaBhadra</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Dam(TBD)), we'll visit TBD first, and then visit this Daroji (um.. I think that was the name) Bear Sanctuary. This would have finished day 1 for us.</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Next day till 1pm we </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">would go around Hampi and then leave for Bangalore after lunch. But it was the end of any of these plans once we reached Chitradurga (~</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">211kms from Bangalore). The probl</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">em was very simple -- after crossing</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/TBDnHampi0021.JPG"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/TBDnHampi0021.JPG" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> the Reliance Office in Peenya, Bangalore (22kms from home) at 12:40, we hoped to reach Chitradurga by 4:30 - 5am and consequently Hospet not before 9am. </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">If you are guessing why our plans 'failed', then heres the little fact -- we had covered those 189kms to Chitradurga in </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">exactly 2hrs 30 minutes. This also included 2 breaks, 1 for grabbing a cup of tea and the other for Masala Dosa! Yes, a hot and delicious masala dosa at 2 o'clock at night!!</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> So effectively </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">189kms in about 2hrs and 10 minutes. The best thing was that we didn’t</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> even take '1%' risk.</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> The credit goes to the amazing NH-4 which apart from few places where its still 2 lanes, is 4 lane through out with some 6 lanes in village areas. It has been fenced on either side so that stray cattle stays away from road!! The other helping factor was of co</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">urse the time.. it was night time with all the local 'uneducated' traffic off road. The actual traffic consisted of the hundreds of trucks with few busses, sumos and a single bike - my beloved Pulsar 150!! <span style="COLOR: rgb(0,153,0)">And this journey has put more ink on the stamp that I give to the truck drivers, taking an a</span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,153,0)">verage, "they are the BEST BEHAVED people on highway, especially at night, moving in single lanes and aware of the fact that God has given them a thing known as DIPPER on their vehicle!!"</span>. </span><span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">We were there in Chitradurga at least 1hr 30min ahead of schedule.. </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">this meant that we were at</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/TBDnHampi012.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/TBDnHampi012.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> Tungabhadra Dam by 7:30... and what a sight it was when we reached there... what lied beyond </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">those 'not so hi' walls was a definition 'sagar' the dam is</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> full with all its 33 gates open. A little '</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">gift' to the security guards ensured that we were able to take our bike on the D</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">am and then later to the Guest House atop a small hill overlooking the dam. And guess what, there was a Hanuman tem</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">ple at a little distance from this guest house. After some huffing and puffing could take a Darshan and did a 'dandwat' :) It</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> was time to thank him for his support for our trip...</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;"><br /></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Once out of the temple and through with a few photos, we went down </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">to a small garden adjacent to the dam. After taking some</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"> well deserved rest, </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">we set of for Hampi, w</span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/TBDnHampi035.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/TBDnHampi035.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">ith a break in Hospet for uneventful lunch..</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">Once in Hampi, we went around like crazy. 'Not a single stone was left unturned' :D This was the first time that I showed any interest in anything beyond 'water', </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">esp. in architecture... Visiting the bear </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">sanctuary was completely ruled out as the entry timing was 3pm to 6pm. As the sun went down and a full moon rose to glory, we ca</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">me out from the TB river that caressed </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">the city. After all, I wasn’t THAT far from water, was I!!</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">Hampi at night was a different sight all together. </span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Combined with the moon light, there were these arrays of sodium and mercury vapor lamps that lit the structures, esp. the Vitthala Temple!! Truly artistic!! Majestic!!<br /><br /></span></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/1600/TBDnHampi038.jpg"><img style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/404/1624/320/TBDnHampi038.jpg" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;">Yes, there was one thing utterly disappointing and ridiculous!! <span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">One is NOT ALLOWED TO USE </span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">A TRIPOD FOR CAMERA in </span></span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-family:georgia;"><span style="COLOR: rgb(255,0,0)">Hampi, even though use of camera itself is allowed. You have to get a written permission from their office to use it.</span> As we didn’t have that permit, all those night shots went to the dogs :(( as the saying goes, 'for your EYES only'...</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">As we started back for Hospet, nothing else was left to been seen... after an uneventful night, we started back for Bangalore around 9am. For a change, we didn’t reach home before 7:15pm, thanks to our numerous stops on the way back. Sometimes to just gaze at the landscapes, sometimes to get into those Sun Flower fields and put the camera into use.<br /><br />This was a 771kms round trip and one that would stay in mind for some time!</span> <span style="font-family:georgia;">Have the photos on the web at:<br /><a href="http://gfactor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album33" target="_blank">http://gfactor.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album33</a></span></span>Rishihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10130972475124844856noreply@blogger.com1