Tirupati by steps

The week that was:

I passed one of those age-wala milestones earlier this month. Shreya and I were planning to climb the steps up to Tirupati temple for a while now. Her being in Chennai presented a good opportunity to do this.

There were many pieces that were falling in place in our general personal-professional mosaic, and when things cleared a bit my week looked like this:

·         Tuesday – 350k Bullet ride to Chennai

·         Wednesday – Rest day!

·         Thursday – 150k ride to Tirupati, Darshan, ride back

·         Friday – 350k Bullet ride back

·         Saturday – Train to Chennai

·         Sunday – Return with family back to base

Don’t rationalize this itinerary, I had to do the bullet ride, and a chance to do a bullet ride with my dear wife on my birthday to Tirupati was worth the effort of the yo-yo week.

Tirupati temple visit climbing Alipiri Steps

There are plenty of information on various website out there, to help you plan the climb.

What they don’t tell you:

• There is no “Information Desk” at the bottom of Tirumala (the start point of the Alipiri Mettu). Be prepared to get bits of information from security, luggage handlers, auto drivers, et al – and only in Telugu – use a lot of “Ekkada undi”
• If you need your bags to reach the top, you have to check them in at the start of the Alipiri Mettu. The security is tight, you will not be allowed to check in if there is metal, etc. My saddle bag, with some bike spares did not make it through. In any case, once you check it in, you will have to collect it once you reach the top and then stove it in lockers in another counter. Budget for time and effort for this.
• If you do not need your bags (worked for us), you need to deposit luggage at Bhodevi guest house, where there are lockers provided, free of cost. But we were harassed for ID proof photocopy, and insisted for Aadhar card (yeah, it is outside bounds of Supreme court). Be prepared to walk about half a kilometer to the guest house (in the heat, with the luggage) from the Alipiri mettu start point.
• The bike and car parking is also near Bhodevi complex, near the bus stand
• You can use footwear, but I recommend against it, purely for spiritual reasons
• You don’t need to wear a lungi or dhoti. Shirt and pants are perfectly fine – all the way
• Free lunch is served at the temple complex between 11am and 3pm only and then later in the evening
• And the big one – Once you are done with the climb and reach the top step, you have to walk on a carpeted footpath till there is no more footpath left. Then you have to a BUS! Yes, you heard right, you have to wait for a bus to take you to the start of the queue to enter the temple. These buses are run by TTD and made to look like chariots!
• You still have to get into a queue (special darshan queue for padayatris). Be prepared for long waiting time (in our case, we entered the queue at noon and were out after the darshan by 4pm. But could have easily been longer.
• There is no free transport back to the Alipiri gate

In his book, The Power of Habit, Duhigg talks about how the cue-routine-reward cycle. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future.

I have spent enough time on my bullet for the reward to be a craving, which is hard wired in my basal ganglia.

I went into auto mode, it was delight simply to get out the jackets, the saddlebags, the gloves. I checked the oil levels & tweaked that accelerator cable to be sure, didn’t want a repeat of that Chennai ride when I jammed cams-rocker-tappet, all for the lack of engine oil.

I started by 5, the roads till Mudbagal could easily take much more power and more speed. Of course, even having a high beam would have helped.

My intermittent fasting ensured that I could skip breakfast and ride all the way. It felt good to get an eventless ride and I quite enjoyed it. The euphoria continued the following morning. With S on the pillion, we took to good roads from Chennai and cruised along. 

One stop for breakfast, and we reached Alipiri gate in about 3hours.

But with no information kiosk at the gate, we first parked, changed, then checked in into the transportable baggage counter, then walked to the bhodevi complex, then ran around for the photocopies, then locked our bags in.

By then time we hit the first step, I was already sweating profusely and was already 8:45 or so. The first 2000 steps were the steepest and went up one hill, and then it plateaus, get into a bit of a valley, then climbs a bit more. TTD can do with using the public address loud speakers to narrate stories about the Lord.

We reached the TTD temple complex (the end of the carpeted footpath) in about 3hours. By noon, we found our way through well marked directions via Padayatri special queue. By noon, we entered a “compartment”, after having to deposit our phones. We were offered hot bisi bele bath inside. Although the notice board outside the coupe said that the estimated time for exit was 4pm, we were allowed to continue into the temple by about 2. When the queues join near the inner sanctum, we were all squeezed like sardines.

Those 10secs or so that you get the darshan as you walk in the sanctum made good all that we had to endure to get there.

In the melee, I had lost one of our biometric tickets – 3 ladoos loss!

We picked up our phones, got into private taxi that got us back to Bhodevi complex. You can’t be in Andhra and not have Andhra meals. We ate our fill of rice and pappu before we turned back to Chennai. The last 50kms of the ride was messy, dusty, trafficy and in the night. All that time we lost in mis-information could have made the finish a lot sweeter.

I totally loved the ride back.

In the end, it was a mix of adrenaline, romance, divinity, lowdowns & sweat – a snapshot, summing up the last 37 years!

My dad, my pillion - ride to Udupi

Bullet Bhats (pun intended) 'coz we just did this last month - 850kms over 2 days riding at riding speeds of 80kmph over some winding roads.

My Dad is a wonderful father. Don't blame me if I bring in some of the parenting Chautauqua into this post.
It is quite a difficult line to draw, how much to hold on to, and what to let go. He has always had this balance figured out. He let us (me and my sister) make our decisions, to choose what was right for us and stand by those decisions, never once being over scrutinizing or over patronizing us. He let go, so important part of parenting.

I look around and find these hyper obsessive parents, forever (and I mean forever) deciding what's good for their children and what is not. The layers and layers of over protectionism seem endless, fuss about this, safe guard from that, firewall this, keep them away from that.

"We are incapable of loving another unless we love ourselves, just as we are incapable of teaching our children self-discipline unless we ourselves are self-disciplined.  It is actually impossible to forsake our own spiritual development in favor of someone else’s.  We cannot forsake self-discipline and at the same time be disciplined in our care for another.  We cannot be a source of strength unless we nurture our own strength.  I believe that not only do self-love and love of others go hand in hand but that ultimately they are indistinguishable.” ~ Scott Peck"

So, when I asked him if he was up to riding with me to Udupi to attend a cousin's wedding, we deliberated about the timing and if it will cause unnecessary anxiety in the family. And then when I pressed on, he was pillion, that reassuring hand on my shoulder, like so many instances in my life.

The last time my dad rode pillion on a long ride was on my first long ride to Trichy, way back in 2005. Read this.

There was also the betaal (the vampire from Vikram & beetal) that had refused to leave my back. About 2 years back, I rode to Chennai (almost), unknowing to me at that point, with almost no engine oil. What followed was a seizure, towing, over haul of the tappets, rockers, some piston damage and serious dip in my confidence on my bullet. Thanks to some incessant spark plug issue, the beetal didn't leave my back since then. The only way to answer the question - take the leap, ride.

I slid in my tool kit with spares into the saddle bag, not wanting to hit into any electrical problem. We started at 6am. And right as we hit the ring road towards the highway, was that a missed beat?? The mist and fog hit us as we headed towards Yediyur. We stopped at Bellur cross for breakfast of idlys and heavy dose of nostalgia.

Next stop was while we were on Shiradi ghat, the bridge on the highway which had served as the starting point for the famous Yedikumeri railway trek back in my college days.
As we crossed the ghat section, I sighed a relief, now we were in tow-able territory, the betaal was still hovering around.
And electrical problems are like on a switch, one moment you are cruising, the next an abrupt stop; dead.

We reached Udupi at 1:30, rode straight with jacket & boots to our native village Brahma Vishnu Maheshwara Kaanangi temple. There was a function underway and we helped ourselves to some sumptuous traditional meal.

The next morning we attended the Nirmalya Puja at Krishna Mutt - a visual that remains etched in my memory. The wedding done, lunch and some packed food later, we were ready to hit the road once more.

We started at 1:30 and were home at 9, with a couple of breaks.

And somewhere on the well laid roads from Hassan, riding towards the full moon, in its glory, the reassuring hand on my dad on my shoulder, the beetal seemed to finally get off my back... in the most appropriate way, we put a "bullet" right through it.

Office commute – 5 days, 5 ways

How many times have we felt, “damn, the traffic is so slow, I could easily be faster on foot”, but never dared to try. On one such Friday evening when it took me 1:45mins to cover the 26k home, I decided to try all modes of options to commute to work – Car, Bullet, Bus, Cycle and Run.

Although, I had the phone lines open for 165774hours for the entire country to vote in their favorites, all of 41people voted (blame the economy, H1N1 or both). And like any reality show, the results are being announced after a choti si break.

Summary of the results:
• The least one-way time to commute was recorded while I rode the cycle; 54mins for 26km
• The least average time (both ways) was recorded by the bullet - 61.5mins, the cycle was a close second at 62.5mins
• The time taken by the next three modes were Car (1:12hrs), Bus (assisted: 1:45hrs) and run (2:35hrs)

Terminologies used:
• Work-ability: The ability to work after one commutes to office. Yes, some morons like me work after getting to office.
• Health Equity: Health = health, Equity is used to use up the residual remnants from my Fin MBA
• Relaxation Index: The measure of relaxation during the commute

Caveats:
• Although, I tried to keep the start the commute at the same time each day, there were deviations. Even a 10-15min change can cause quite a difference in results in peak hour traffic. This variable could have been controlled further
• Same as above for the time to leave office too
• There was a significant loss of speed in transmission because of slipping clutch plates in the bullet. But then, we are not getting into muscle fatigue during the cycling phase either
• The experiment is not sensitized to the day of week as well. I also have only the luxury of sample size = 1. With multiple data points, with different modes being taken on different days, one could also account for the Monday morning, Friday evening traffic variations
• All parameters where I have arrived at objective results (viz., cost, time, carbon footprint) have been converted to a 5-point scale for measurement. All parameters where results are subjective (viz., work-ability, safety, health equity, relaxation index) have also been subject to my subjectivity
• The ‘Overall ratings’ is arrived at using weighted-average. The weights are provided by me (Health equity 25%, Work-ability 20%, Cost & Safety 15%, Time & relaxation 10%, Carbon footprint 5%). Of course, this could vary from person to person and the ‘Overall ratings’ are quite sensitive to the weights considered
• We are comparing superman legs with them machines

13th to 17th July 2009
Route taken: Boopsandra>Hebbal>Windsor Manor>Chalukya circle>Cubbon Park>Richmond circle>Divyasree Chambers>Hosur Road>Forum Mall>Krishna Cafe>Wipro Park K2>Agara jn>Iblur Jn>Wipro Corporate Office
Total Distance: 26km
Run
Make: Superman
Start time: 6:00AM onward, 6:40PM return
Total time taken: 2:32hrs onward, 2:39hrs return
Cost to commute: Nil

Notes: I wear high viz clothing, cap & reflective wristbands for safety. I run on the right side of the road (opp. to the direction of traffic). At the earliest opportunity, I jump onto the footpaths. Despite utmost care, I nearly zonked out when I rammed against a signpost (twice) & also got shown the finger by one impatient jackass on the ring road. I use my car (parked conveniently in the basement car park at work) as a makeshift cupboard for my change of clothes and laptop & shower and change at work.

Cycle
Make: Giant OCR Road bike
Start time: 7:30AM onward, 6:50PM return
Total time taken: 54mins onward, 71mins return
Cost to commute: Nil
Notes: I wear high viz clothing, helmet & gloves for safety. I alight from the bike if I need to take footpaths, maintain high alert if I need to jump signals and do not listen to music or answer the mobile while on the bike. The morning ride is a very pleasant experience indeed. The car, shower & change get me work ready in about 45mins or so.

Car
Make: Hyundai Elantra
Start time: 7:45AM onward, 7:20PM return
Total time taken: 64mins onward, 1:20hrs return
Cost to commute: Approx. Rs. 110
Bus
Make: BMTC Ring road bus
Start time: 8:30AM onward, 7:00PM return
Total time taken: 1:45hrs onward, 1:40hrs return
Cost to commute: Day pass Rs. 30
Notes: Last mile connectivity issues at both ends; had to hitch a lift from work to the ring road. A lot to be desired on the frequency and timelines of the Volvo buses. Heavily crowded bus on the return.

Motorcycle
Make: Royal Enfield Bullet
Start time: 8:45AM onward, 7:00PM return
Total time taken: 59mins onward, 1:04hrs return
Cost to commute: Approx. Rs. 75
Notes: Due to clutch pads smoothening out, the power was not transmitting from the primary drive. Therefore, even at high revs, the speed remained low. Also, I left a little later than usual to work on the bullet adding to the total time taken.

The NET RESULT:
• Saturday was spent in roughening the clutch plates
• More importantly, after another week of trying to keep with this schedule, I gave up mostly because the running was difficult to sustain
• I now run partly (12km) and cycle partly (13km) to work, parking the cycle at Madhu’s (my sis) place overnight and picking it up the next morning. I find this a perfect mix of commute, training, cross training & work-ability
• Thanks for participating in the survey, most of you got it right. Since this survey did not involve sending an SMS, you saved Rs.6!! Cheers!

Hampi Heritage Half Marathon

I have been often accused of having a very predictable chronological narration, this time I break away from that… Let’s liken this ride to a mug and attempt to first this mug with the memories from this ride…

Step 1: Take the mug and proceed to fill it with some large pebbles
Mrugharajendra Mutt, Chitradurga:
The place had a pristine tranquility to it, one that is capable to absorbing large amounts of tumult.
I deposited my footwear in an unguarded pigeon hole and walked into the Mutt in my military cargos. At 7 in the evening, I was in no great hurry; I had traveled 300kms since morning – visited Lepakshi and Chitradurga fort. I took my time to read off the Kannada board “Sri Jagdguru Murugharajendra Bruhanmata Samsthana”.

The smell of incense and vibhudhi filled up the meditation hall. It looked more like a church with single large photo of Basavanna on an elevated platform at the far end of the hall. The Bridavan of the seer Mrigarajendra was the most peaceful – a bhajan played repeatedly and time seemed to tick in slow motion. I sat down in padmasan, closed my eyes and started to chant the Omkara, oblivious to the others walking in and out. I wanted to spend at least 10mins in meditation, when I opened my eyes again, nearly 25mins had passed.

I didn’t pray for anything in particular, but I was blessed with a very moving experience. The Mutt provides dinner as prasadam to all devotees and I was shown the way to the dinning hall. But even before I could enter, there were some hundred little kids who appeared out of nowhere and queued up in front of the entrance in gaiety.

A ‘teacher’, told me about how there were 170 orphan children residing and studying at the Mutt. I moved to the end of the queue, I was surely better fed than them not to queue up.
I sat down facing some 50 kids in the opposite row – the multitude of thoughts in their heads and the manifested reactions, gestures, actions, expressions was unbelievable. While we were served Ragi mudde, rice, sambar and butter milk, some kids envied the size of the ragi balls on the others’ plate, some played nudging games with their neighbors, some passed on excess rice to others (plus poured out sambar too), some stealthily examined the guests and some others simply gazed dreamily.

And in your own head you worry about seemingly important things – career moves and wooing woes, crude shocks, bottom fishing and bleeding portfolios, traffic jams and how-to-nudge-that-moron-off-the-road. This one experience was enough to absorb all that turbulence.
The meal not only filled my stomach, it filled my heart too!!

Step 2: Take some more large pebbles and fill drop them into the mug
TungaBhadra Dam Canal:
Where is this lady from? Where is Germany? Why are you running? Where are you from? What money do they use there? Is the ‘Gandhi’ money used in Bangalore also? Do foreigners have lots of money? How many rupees can you buy with one dollar? How much have you studied? Where do you work? How much money do you make in one month? Have you seen Indian cricketers? Is Dhoni better than Tendulkar?

Insatiable appetite of this 12 year old left me groping for answers. Chandrasekar and Dhoni (I could get his name inspite of asking twice, I called this cute kid “Dhoni”) joined Sabine, Athreya and I on the return leg of the TDB canal run. About a dozen RFLers ran along the TBD canal on the Saturday evening – the day before the Hampi Heritage Half Marathon, a distance of about 15kms, against some gusty, ballistic winds threatening to blow us off into the canal.
Chandrasekar and ‘Dhoni’ bombarded me with an endless battery of questions, left me diving for cover. I countered them with my own and learnt Chandra went to a village school, studied 9th std and wanted to take up science after his class X, but Dhoni dropped out in 5th std and worked at a quarry for the money. The lure of free lunches or even the free bicycles that they distributed this year was not incentive enough. Should this budding curiosity only be left to some random runner to satisfy? Surely there is more we can do…

Step 3: The Mug already seemed to be filled?? Time to pick some smaller pebbles and pour them into the mug; There is still more room here…
Ride to Lepakshi:
I set off on Friday, 17th morning, quickly getting off the highway, towards Doddaballapur – Hindupur SH9. The road opens into some spectacular landscape almost immediately. Riding alone into the breeze, the thump of the bullet fighting the howling winds to reach my ear drums, the familiarity had a strange home-coming feeling to it. It was only after some 100kms when I reached Maakalidurga where the road hugs the railway track like a DNA double helix, that I realized that the road was taken before – the penukonda ride!! Remember the 24 Karat Action??
I reached Lepakshi at 10:30 after passing through some rib-tickling places – TondeBhavi and Auto Nagara. By then all the pores had opened up and I was ready to soak in any amount of gyan, I took the services of a guide!
Perfect ingredients for a 1-day ride: Good roads, easy ride, lotsa history and biology (Padmini is described as the most perfect form of feminine excellence!!)
I offered my prayers to the deity, Veerabhadra and the 5 lingas, a more realistic form of Padmini was top of mind.

Chitradurga:

I took a longer route via Madakasira-Rolla-Agali-Sira-Chitradurga and was able to reach Chitradurga only by 4:30 after a brief stop at Ravi Bar and Restaurant outside Sira.
Had just enough time to visit the Chitradurga fort, where the guide Channabasapa built stor(e)y after stor(e)ys, the Palegaras who built the fort couldn’t have built more!
Riding around the Chitradurga fort in fading twilight is enough to send down some shivers and must have been truly impregnable in its times.

I also visited Chandravalli lake and Ankali Fort, walking down eerie steps into the subterranean dark chambers with a candle, being told about the swami’s who performed penance, was straight out of a Indiana Jones movie.

Step 4: More small pebbles to fill the mug, please
Cycling around the Hampi Ruins:
I reached the Hotel Mayura Bhuvaneshwari at Kamalapur outside Hospet on Saturday morning. Rajesh, Leona, Reena and I went around the ruins near the Krishna temple, Virupaksha temple to reach the over-hyped “Mango Tree” for lunch. While they had all kinds of cuisines – Chinese, Tibetan, Vietnamese (joking!!), they missed out on North Karnataka meal. How can one substitute Momos for some authentic Jolada Rotis (Jowar Rotis)??

Step 5: There is room for more small pebbles, right?
The First-Ever Hampi Heritage Half Marathon:
Thanks to Sabine, Sam and all of Sam’s relatives - Babu Mama, Santosh, Prashanth (and the phat-phati full of cheerleaders), we had a wonderful itinerary covering some 35 places!! We started at 6:15 from the hotel and spent a very memorable 5hours running, taking pictures, listening to Sam as he helped us with the history, marveling at some of the ruins. Our supplies phat-phati ensured that we did not run out of fluids. Upon Sabine’s insistence we managed to complete 21kms. How often do you run a 21km distance and manage to travel from 1 CE all the way to the 14th and 16th century? It was a fantastic experience.

The cherry on top was still to follow, we were treated to some finger-licking Jolada Roti and Badane Ennegai lunch at Sam’s house at Malapangudi after the run.

Step 6: Just when you think you nearly filled the mug, take a fistful of sand and pour it in… there is still room for more!!

The lone lush green tree rooted the red fields
The early morning air washed clean from overnight rains
The dump-all-luggage-in-hotel-lodge, visit the fort, lake, caves, mutt and then forget the name of the lodge at chitradurga
Race with the thunderstorm from Chitradurga to Tumkur
The inflation catching up with Lakshmi Tiffin Room, Chitradurga – Rs.3 for extra cup of sambar!!

Step 7: And when you finally agree with me that the mug (likened to the trip, you remember) is finally full, proceed to pour in some Kingfisher Beer. The Beer sizzles through the remaining spaces making the mug truly full.

In pouring rain and soaring spirits, we downed mugs and mugs of the bitter fermented fluid, making pretext of carb-loading (the quintessential pre-race ritual), making RFL jokes, polishing off pakodas and masala peanuts, cracking pjs, matching every pitter patter, the rains made outside.

Moral of the story: No matter how full the ride/run may seem, there’s always room for a few Beers!!

More poses here and here

Stalking Shimoga

How close you are to someone is not a function of distance…
…and if you really think there is distance, put a bullet right through it!

In a spur of a moment decision, I decided to do just that. I will refrain from revealing what transcribed on the Friday evening that snowballed into taking the decision – we can think it as an Euphoria from a good morning run, even better interview and a sooper prank.

So, on 22nd morning I fuelled up, paid a quick visit to MTech, more to ease my guilt of not servicing my bullet for 5000kms now. At 1pm, I was off, on the highway headed towards Tumkur and Tiptur towards Shimoga.

Riding Alone?
Technically, yes, I had more than one person’s share of emotions, thoughts and enthu to make up for it. Riding alone comes with a lot of positives – you are your own boss, one less pair of sore buttocks to worry about and hey, you can fantasize about the n-no. of possibilities of filling the pillion seat (the grapes are sour, eh).

The ride

Day 1 – Bridging Gaps, real and virtual
Reached Shimoga in about 5hours after negotiating some 300kms of road, to the nearest (only!) internet café. Pillion rider or not, I still had to make some plans for the following 2 days. I stayed over at Shyla aunty’s place at Shimoga and her tenant helped me finalize a tight plan for the next 3 days covering a lot including Yana.

Day 2 – Of a stubborn Goddess and Kaptivating Kodachadri
I finished my 12km jog in the morning, yes, Mumbai marathon is just around the corner. The plan was to cover Kollur and Kodachadri and head back to Shimoga for the night. I only managed to reach Kollur only by noon. Long Qs for darshan and lunch ensured that I was way off my plan. It’s only about 30kms from Kollur to Kodachadri.

"Good things come slow - especially in distance running." Bill Dellinger

Even as I navigated thru the worst stretch of road to Kodachadri, I had a premonition of what was in store. The last 3kms is the killer. The steep uphill dirt/rocky track was uneven, slippery and very tricky to ride. Most people trek or take jeeps that ferry people to the Inspection Bunglow and Bhatta’s place on top. No second thoughts, if I endured an Ultra last week, it was the turn of my bullet now. I reached the top at 430ish. The view of the hills was so enchanting, I simply had to change my plans for the night. The IB was already full of trekkers. I parked my stuff with a group of trekkers, changed into my running shoes and headed off to the top to catch the sunset, doing my spread-thy-wings on the edge of a cliff!

Running shoes, an extra pair of socks, sunscreen, goggles were the contents of my tank bag. My leather jacket was the only protection against the howling breeze. Luck surely favors the brave, I met a long lost friend Sharath and his cousins who were carrying extra sheets.

Mythology has it that, goddess Mookambika killed Mookasura in tearing fury here. The goddess was so fierce that Shankaracharya meditated at Kodachadri, invoked and pacified the goddess. Though the goddess now-a-days are less furious, winning them over is no less penance. (ask me how I know!)

Day 3 – One moves the soul, the other stops the heart!

Day 3 was when it all rose in a crescendo. It started at 5AM on top of the gusty Kodachadri. I trekked up alone in the twilight to catch the first rays of the sun. A group of trekkers who had camped overnight were stirring at a distance. I perched on the edge of a cliff to watch the spectacle. The night was cold and cloudless; I identified the moon, the North star, the Ursa Major and minor, while I thought of a lot other celestial bodies. (tooo much no!). The sun took it time coming up. But thanks to the 360° panorama, I was witness to the battle of light and darkness. No words can explain it – the intensity and spread of the orange and blue takes over from the shades of black. What bliss, but it took its time, alright!

After breakfast at Bhatta’s place and bone-breaking ride we headed towards Singandoor. It was Sharath who suggested I visit Singandoor temple and ride to Sagar. We bathed in waist-deep rivulet, something I hadn’t done in a long time now.
The deity at Singandoor, Chowdeshwari is believed to be very powerful by the locals, I passed in my own chota ‘list’ at the temple.

The Launch

The Sharawati backwaters separate Singandoor from Sagar, but everyone makes way for a Bullet. The Dept of Ports runs a Launch to ferry people, bikes, cars, vans and buses across the river. It was yet another first time for me, the 20min ride was fantastic – the ride only costing 1Re per head and 5Rs for the Bullet! Those denominations don’t seem to exist in Bangalore no more.

At Sagar, I was reunited with the net, I had important mails to reply to. I made a quick pit stop at a Bullet Mechanic for some chain tightening. The ‘pro’ quickly rattled off a series of repairs that were due and remarked how I had managed to ride all the Bangalore on this one. That is the beauty that my bullet is! Its almost a compliment when someone says that, like someone said I was looking fresh after having run 6hrs on the Ultra day!

Next quick visit was to Honnemaralu (Honnu = pearl, maralu = sand) near Sagar. Honnemaralu is a camping site, a nature camp, located on the banks of Sharawati backwaters. I went on a short row-boat ride, while the boatman Ganesh explained the purpose and concept of the NGO that runs the place. It offers boating, camping, swimming and trekking facilities, perfect for a 3days holiday. I promised myself I would be back there sometime soon.

Promise or no promise, I was surely back at the internet café at Sagar soon enough. All the praying seemed to have worked, I was almost riding-in-the-air on my way back to Shimoga, that’s how you ride when you are on cloud 9!

The day had begun with the sunrise-treat to the eyes, the day ended with a treat to the ears – if it was the soul that was touched in the morning; it was the turn of the heart in the evening! What a day, I say!

Day 4 – Curtains!

As I rode back, singing along the song Anisutide from Mungaru malé, one thing was certain, what I had seen, experienced and left behind was a lot of unfinished business. Shimoga will have to be stalked yet again, albeit better planned and less hurriedly…

Ride Plan
Day1: Bangalore/1300 – Tumkur – Tiptur – Arsikere – Tarikere – Bhadravati – Shimoga/1800 (300kms)
Day2: Shimoga/0900 – Ayanur – Hosanagara – Nagara – Kollur/1215 (120km)
Kollur/1430 – Nagodi - Nittur - Kodachadri/1630 (40kms)
Day3: Kodachadri/0830 – Sigandur/1200 (70kms) - - - Sagar/1600(30kms) – Tagupa (50kms) – Honnemaralu/1700 (8kms) – Sagar - Shimoga

What I missed:
Sagar – Varadapeeta Moola(1km) – Keladi (8km) – Ikkeri (4kms) – Jog (40kms) – SahasraLinga/Marikamba temple – Siddapura – Sirsi/Sonde (50kms) – Yana (40kms)

Selected fotos at here/c1441307.html

Paapa Vinasam run at Tirumala

My childhood pal, Vijay married Kalpana in Tirumala on 28th Nov. There was no way I could have missed the wedding and the opportunity to ride the good roads to Tirumala. I added a cherry on top – a 16km run on Tirumala to Papavinasam.



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Head out on Old Madras Road via Kolar, bear left at Chitoor, the bypass is potholed and very avoidable. I reached Tirupati at 6 in the evening, after 4hours of riding. There’s a through security check before you begin the 20-24km ascent of Tirumala hill. It was pitch dark when I started the climb. The well-lit, well-marked, one-way curvy section, is a treat to any biker. The brightly lit tilak, padma and chakra of the Lord visible almost right through the uphill ride plus the steady traffic on road ensures that the throttle is on leash.

I walked into the wedding ceremony - leathers, boots, helmet and tank bag in tow. The vara pooja and reception was held on Tuesday. I stayed with Vijay and Centhil in one of the guest houses at Tirumala.

The next morning, I pulled out my dri-fit tee, shorts and running shoes. I stated off towards Papavinasam about 8km from Tirumala. It is a very scenic ghat route that cuts across lush vegetation, offering multiple view points of the Tirumala hills.
Upon ‘wiking’ I find, Tirupati has seven hills representing the seven heads of a huge serpent.

The fist thoughts that come to mind when you think of Tirupati is the endless queues, the melee at the temple complex. The only pleasant thought is that of the laddoo you ‘earn’ after the darshan. The temple failed to touch my spiritual side on my previous two visits.

But this time, as I jogged through the hills, I saw why Tirumala invoked so much spirituality. The rocky hills all around, the dense vegetation, the lakes and streams – so divine that you connect with your inner self.
There is God in those hills, guys, so next time you plan one of those TTD darshans spare a couple of hours to explore the beauty that really is Tirumala.

I would have missed all of this if it were not for the running. After having run about 5kms I spotted a dam at a distance off the road. There was a path taking to that one, the gates to the dam were locked, but there was a gap to squeeze through. The view was simply out of the world – there were all possible hues of green, reflecting off still water of the reservoir- all packed in one picture perfect postcard.

Papavinasam – is the place where you are supposed to wash off all your sins. And like most tourist-thronged places, it was disappointing. Water flows down some pipes and devotees take bath underneath, if any, one could pick up a few sins there…
I let the water wash off my hair. The sins of the head, I washed off… the sins of the heart are only meant to scar.
I ran off-road on the way back to check out a very beautiful lake, fantastic stuff really.

I got back to Vijay wedding feeling so refreshed. The wedding itself was grand, almost to a point where it got bigger than the bride and the groom! I hit the highway immediately after lunch.

The ride down the hill was also great – the challenging curves and the view of the hills for all of the 20odd kms ride.
At 6, the weekday evening traffic chaos at KR Puram brought me straight back to the ground with a thud.

Head West, Head East

1300kms, 40lts of petrol, 1 breakdown, 27 highway hours, 29Sep-02Oct’07

It’s one of those rare phases in life now - a very pendulous phase, with contrasting emotions that are hard to explain. A depressing morning lending itself into a refreshing lunch break, the dangling blue ear-ring erasing the etch of static cubicles and walls, the locked battle of the convict and the romantic. While outwardly, nothing has changed at all; I am still the IIM grad, employed in a MNC, still single and happy, internally, I have been traveling miles and miles of agonizing turmoil putting each of these superficial statuses to risk, every single day.

The idea of a matching physical torture probably brought in an iota of sadistic pleasure to my melancholic mind. And I was tricked into ‘looking forward’ to a weekend of long rides, long run and friends.

Either I could head west, travel 270kms to Madikeri, to the RTMC 6A party, or head east to Pondicherry, travel 330kms to meet the gang. The pendulum of indecision put its ugly head up again, I was unable to decide which of the two to let go. Unlike life, though, riding on a bullet provides at least some answers - the answer was simple, ride west, then east. Maybe all answers are indeed simple, my optimist-self reassures me that, there would be a su-someone who would add the rang (color) to my meandering existence. (Are you listening??)

T h a t was the mood as the weekend began to roll…

RTMC 6A at Madikeri

The Anniversary rides are the biggest and promising events of RTMC, the Bangalore Bullet Club. It seemed like yesterday when we partied all night long at Yercaud for the 5A. There were some 40 bullets that lit up the roads as we left Town Hall at 640am. The high point was the participation of Mr. Bose, the grand old man of Bullet racing, even after 50years of riding, there is a sparkle in his eyes when he talks about his Bullets. There were quite a few from the Madras Bulls (MadBulls) who had already traveled 300kms to join us. The regrouping points were at Kamat Lokaruchi and at Srirangapatana, they had to be long to accommodate all varieties of riders and Bullets. There were patchy stretches of bad roads near Periyapatana. We took the deviation to Siddapura.

Its always such a pleasure riding in Madikeri, the roads are narrow and winding, foliage thick, the routes green and the climate cool. And despite all this, my thoughts kept swinging back to the workplace mischief, bringing a boyish grin inside the visor. And somewhere on the highway before Hunsur, my Bullet passed yet another milestone - 30000kms on the odometer, yoo-hoo!!

The RTMC party was at Capitol Village about 3kms from Madikeri on the Madikeri-Siddapura road. The place has a rustic feel to it, with a small lake, tiled cottages, corgi-styled balconies and decent view of the fields. For want of space, a few of us were booked at Crystal house, a hotel at Madikeri. There were 100 bullets which made way to the party.

My Party in the wild

Long before the party was set to start late evening, the preparation had begun – liquids of all colors being concocted into the cocktail, grass being rolled to give the various degrees of high.
I had my own plans to get there – my dope of endorphins was waiting for release; all I needed was my pair of running shoes to inject the pain.

I ran down from the room to Capitol Village and looked conspicuously out-of-place at the party in my shorts and dry-fit tee. But the short 3km run had already gotten me hooked, I wanted to do more. I borrowed Shakti’s torch and even as the blaring music began to play to the head-bangers, I started to pound the roads.

As I left the party behind, at 915 in the night, the mist and eerie darkness welcomed me to my first night run. And what a run it was, the ghostly silhouette of the tress, backlit by the grey skies and mist, the firefly trail decorating the dark shrubbery, the cool air swelling up my lungs, the crickets chirping incessantly at the unusual visitor.
I had only planned to set out to my hotel to change and get back to the party. But by the time I reached Madikeri, I was deeply engrossed in my thoughts. I turned back to face the hazy and obscure road, praying and begging for some clarity, some light to pierce this mist, some answers to the questions that haunt me.

And like pure magic, in the middle of all this, the naughty smile kept coming back, briefly translocating me to my office cafeteria. A sharp loud (in that silence, even the pitter patter of my shoes could be called loud) barking of two dogs, snapped me back, sending a chill down my spine and the barking grew louder and nearer. It started to rain on the second lap, and I tempted to abort my run and head back to the resort at the end of this loop. As I neared the resort, my ears picked up faint rock music in the distance; my party was not over yet. I turned back to the road, I needed all of those endorphins, pain is what I have to get used to after all. Is that the answer, well, maybe not, but hey it always helps to experience the possible worst-case. From there, it can only get better.

And better it did get, literally. When I got back to Capitol at 1045, the beverages were flowing, the dancing souls were subdued and I attacked the food and desserts with delight. That is one run I will not forget in a hurry.

Madikeri to Pondicherry

Sunday turned out to be a full day of riding, nearly 14hours from start to finish. I started from Madikeri at 7am with Sumanth. The route from Siddapura was so good, I was tempted to try to shoot the stretch of the ride on my Nikon S10. I managed a bit, check it here, any guesses how I managed this stunt?
Breakfast happened at Maddur Tiffany’s and all was going well as hit Bangalore well before noon. I pulled over at R1 Plaza just outside Hosur at 1pm for lunch. With just under 300kms to go, 6pm at Pondi seemed very possible and I extended the lunch break to 2pm. But just as I started from there, as I was settling into a cruising mode on the fantastic highway to Krishnagiri, the speedometer started to behave erratic like the Indian cricket team and the Bullet came to stop. It was a definite problem with the electricals and I tried a bit of troubleshooting for the next 30mins. When nothing happened, I pushed the Bullet a good half a km or so to a mechanic. A loose connection in the coil in the clutch case was the culprit. It was 4pm when I rejoined the highway again. I decided to ride non-stop for the next couple of hours to make the max of the daylight. And when twilight faded, I still had to cover 95kms from Thiruvanamalai to Pondi. Braving high beams, flies and fatigue I reached Pondi at 8:30, it still took me another half hour to get to Le Club, where Raghu, Raaji, Ada, Tima and Shamji were chilling out.

Forth is deceptive. There is this one kind of it, when served chill in a mug is supposed to refresh (I personally think it is the world’s biggest hoax, let’s discuss this over a beer sometime). Ok, the other forth – bubbly and unconstrained, until it comes in splashing all over your face. Yuck, salt it is. We sat on the rocks on the beach at 12 in the night soaking ourselves, trying to stare the waves in the eye (yeah, what!!). But it’s amazing how when you are pals, any froth – salty or bitter tastes so sweet, no.

Aurovil Ashram

The place is fantastic, independent cottages built to give it a rustic feel that makes you feel at home, instantly. It’s a great place to stay if you are planning an extended holiday at Pondi. So much silence and peace of mind at that kind of price is a steal.
The real holiday started on Monday, the real holiday is when you don’t do nothing. You should read about our other real holiday here. We undid some millions of years of evolution, re-evolve or something (I think it is called revolution, I know that word from somewhere) when turned hunters and liars again (Charles Darwin would never tell you they were liars, it would have created a revolution, I think). We played bluff for as long as I can remember and then went hunting for food to the Aurovil village. It was some Seethusamudram strike in TN and Aurovil is in TN and not Pondi (not a bluff that one) and we literally had to hunt around for grub. For dinner we had to get back to basics – fruits, bread, jam and omelets minus oil. I don’t know, we started off making half boiled which became omelet and then started off making omelet which became scrambled eggs. At 230 in the morning, no one complained. It was a difficult night as we discussed issues close to my heart (wink). Words, laughter, advice, serious debate, thoughts, spirit and bluff filled all the space between us friends. Friends… what can I say, you guys are great!!

My Bullet needed a little attention in the morning, some welding and a visit to the mechanic for some peripheral work and it was back to being great.

Road Humps Ahead!!

I like this road sign the best and always look out for the humping when I pass it!! But in this case, the road hump was inside the Ashram, sans the sign. Well, the ashram is a place for solace and silence not for some cheap rallying thrills, he he. All that makes sense till you break the rule once. In the night, when Adarsh and I were getting back on the Bullet, we tried a bit of wheeling… we nearly had orgasmic pleasure (eeikes) taking the bullet off the road over a couple of steep declines in the road within the ashram. We came back to do some more in the morning, its so much fun to do it in the morning (lol).

We slept through the spectacular sunrise at the beach but woke up in time to leave the ashram by noon. We had brunch at Pondi and hit the highway by 1230 or so. Shamji took up the pillion seat for the first 50 odd kms, from then on Adarsh and I rode together, enjoying some good music, decent roads and pleasant riding conditions. I stopped a number of times en route and shot some high energy videos of some kids in the villages in an attempt to make a short congratulatory video for a friend.

The road trip has probably not done anything to make the blue earring any less elusive, but the smile that it will bring to my lips would surely have broadened by some unforgettable memories from there.

The Hills Trilogy - Last leg - Yelagiri Hills

Aug 18th - 19th
Wrapping up that one helluva week of Bulleting, biking and running was the Hash outstation run at Yelagiri.

Yelagiri
Yelagiri is a hill station about 170kms from Bangalore. The place is a RTMC favorite for the delicious Biryani at the town in the foot of the hill, Vaniyumbadi. The Bangalore Hash once every year runs at locations outside Bangalore. With good highway from Bangalore, Yelagiri’s got those ingredients for a good weekend trip. The hill kinda rises abruptly in an otherwise flat landscape. The ride off the highway to the foot of the hill offers a daunting view of the hill, all with the zig-zagging ghat road that leads to the top.

There was one lal dabba, KSRTC van that was arranged to transport a majority of the 40 odd Hashers. I decided to ride down instead wanting to replace my earlier tragic memories of the ride to Yelagiri (Read the story). We stopped for breakfast buffet at Hotel Shivaranjini, near Titan at Hosur and from then on all the way to the top.

Chalk De, Yelagiri!!
Abnash (pervert producer), Sunil (not yet) and I were to Hare (mark the trail with chalk for the others to find/lose) this run. Ha, which also means you get some free Beer at the end of run at the circle. So, soon after reaching the Hotel Hills at Yelagiri where we were booked, we headed off towards the general direction of the lake and the hills, with bags-full of chalk. The next 3 hours went into throwing chalk around lake (the typical “couples in a pedal boat” lake), fields, village roads (no bio-terrorism threat here!) and the Nilgiri forest area. The Hash finished off its quota of Corporate Social Responsibility when the hares cleared off the undergrowth in the forest with Abnash’s gardening cutter!

The forest full of Eucalyptus tress and as silent as the Bacchan family on the all new Jr. (or maybe I should use it as a simile for fast, as in as fast as Abishek or something) Well, anyways, the point is, it was as forest as a forest can be. The trail was fantastic, going around the lake, into the fields and then into the forest area leading into a view point offering the panoramic view of the landscape and then the circle around a mini-pond.

Got back from the run to a few rounds of Table Tennis (how can I ever say no to that one), some malt beverage fermented with sugar and yeast, desserts and dance.

Steep Sunday
About 10-15 of us had made plans to run down and up Yelagiri hills in the morning. My fatigued legs managed about 20kms in all in not so good time, climbing up the last 12kms.
The recovery run was a very very short one, the partying had vanquished the Hashers’ running problem to an extent. There was little you could do, esp after the sumptuous breakfast. There was some fresh pomegranate juice that was simply out of the world.

I left there at noon, the Indian flag and the military cargo n all and was back home early evening with just the one tea stop at Hosur.
Pheww, what a week I say!!

The Hills Trilogy - Part II - Chamundi Hills

Cauvery Calling
It is a feeling that you kinda get addicted to - the good-pain in your hamstrings, calves and quads and it lasts for a couple of days. Last week I had just enough time to restore harmony with my Quads, ankles and lower back after the Nandi Hill ride.



The gear I packed on Tuesday was a rather unusual mix of leather jacket to dry fit apparel, ankle boots to new shooz, spare tube to Polar HRM. For, what I had in mind was a ride to Srirangapatana, run, ride to Mysore and run up the Chamundi Hills the next morning.

It is the season of patriotism, of ChakDe India, of a test victory over the British, of a strengthening rupee. I bought myself a Tricolor to celebrate the spirit of Independence. For the first time, I stitched the Saffron, white and green stripes to size, biting my tongue at those anxious moments when the crucial stitch had to come right while pedaling the Merit sewing machine delicately. After an hour’s battle the Flag adorned the rear view mirror of the Bullet quite smartly, my Laksh was achieved!!

The Forrest of RFL, Dr. Rajat came up with this idea of running up the Chamundi Hills on 15th Aug. Sunil and Jugy added the Hash angle to it, by planning a run near Srirangapatana on 14th, stay over at Mysore and then scale up the hill in the morning. And the plan came with the hash promise of serene landscape along the Cauvery river.

Just before the Rangantittu bird sanctuary there is a kachha road that runs along a Cauvery canal. As Sunil & I took this route to chalk the trail, the landscape opened up to some wonderful imagery of paddy and sugarcane fields along the canal. About 5-6kms on this route and then we took a road to an Ashram and a village. Beyond the village, was the river flowing close to its brink, thanks to the good monsoons this year.

By 4 in the evening the critical mass had gathered for the run – Sunil2, Dave, Mike, Leona, Uttam, Sindoor had joined us. Later Abnash and family and Nischal caught up with us. The run was fantastic, about 7.5kms of bliss. We chilled out at the river for sometime, soaking the sore feet in the cold waters and headed back before sundown. Dave shot some excellent pictures of my bullet on his Canon SLR, see if I can get my hands on those. I wish I could put up some of the pristine country air for you to sample or better still save some for myself.

I was booked at Dasaprakash at Mysore for the night. We treated ourselves to a finger-licking buffet and Beer at The Metropole.
The RFL team from Bangalore joined us during the night – Doc, Bhasker, Satsang, et al. At 6am we were about 18 of us running up the Chamundi Hills.

Chamundi Hills





The Chamundi hills 3490ft high aberration in the center of the city of Mysore, boasts of rich historical significance and the famous Chamundi temple.


The uphill climb is 6km around the winding road to the top. Most of us managed a good timing of 39-42mins on the first lap (yes, we ran it up twice!!) and 22mins on the downhill. It was the second lap that was the push. I did an additional 3kms when I accompanied Nischal on her second lap. I still have the can’t-say-no-to-beautiful-girls disorder. Bhasker kept us company as well on the way down sharing his marathon experiences.

Breakfast served after a 27km run will generally taste good anyways, only Sandesh Prince made sure they didn’t screw up. They have a breakfast buffet which is value for money really… I am not sure, thou, that they continue to offer that after the RFL Raid on Independence Day!!
I was spared the traffic on the ride back to Bangalore and made it non-stop in 2hours 15mins.

Savandurga, The fort of Death

Wikipedia says Robert Home in his Select views from Mysore referred this hill as Savinadurga, or the Fort of Death. On Saturday, 23rd July, some 15 Runners for Life conquered this Fort of Death. (I knew I have the talent for theatre)

Savandurga is the largest monolith hill around Bangalore (one of the largest in the world!!), standing some 400mts tall, offering a fantastic view of Arkavathi river flowing into Manchinbele reservoir (more here).

Route:
From Bangalore you could either take Magadi road, and turn left at the Savandurga Billboard, some 5kms before Magadi or take Mysore road to Ramanagara and turn right to get on Magadi road to the Billboard. Magadi road is getting its fresh layer of asphalt and about 80% done, the curvaceous route is a pleasurable 60km ride to Savandurga. The Mysore road is about 20kms longer, and much more of the get-away-from-the-city traffic on weekends.

Ride and Run:
It was a simply irresistible combination that Madhu Avasarala (check this) stirred up - a 60km ride on a monsoon morning and a power walk up and down the monolith.
I took the Magadi road and reached the base at 7, we started the climb at 7:45. The way uphill is well marked, an in some steep inclines, with foot holds. It is a good 4km climb up from behind the hill. The steepest part of the climb is the first half reaching up first to some fort walls, and then to a small rain water pool. As I huffed and puffed up to this spot, I caught up with Nitin and his friend, Navendu who is a regular on this hill!! Biscuits and water went around at the top even as we took in most of the panoramic view.

Down and Up again:
The second lap was the real push and I had to make an effort to be slow to save my knees on the downhill. It was such a delight to see Madhu’s son, Sanjay make it up to the peak, twice and Noel’s 7yr old daughter do her bit of rock climbing with daddy.
We came down to some delicious Daliya upma, made of half wheat and lots of vegetables. I did about 5 rounds of that beating all the others, phew, exhausting, I say.

Leona did great work with the camera as well. For all the fotos follow here… courtesy Leona.

At Rs. 150 for fuel, Rs. 4.50 for Parle G biscuits and Rs. 2 for Bananas, it sure felt like one of those treks from my engineering days.

And Coming up in August…
Biking trip to Pondicherry and Hash out at Yelagiri…

Heading West to ShravanaBelagola

Date: 05 May 2007
Distance: 150kms from Blore
Route: Bangalore > Nelamangala > Kunigal > Yediyur > ShravanaBelagola


To bring in a refreshing change in style, I shamelessely indulge in plagarism, straight from Shreyas Blog http://shreyasg.wordpress.com/ My batchmate at L and bitten by the travel bug off late, holds no bars in showering those praises on my bullet. Check out the post here.


Excerpts:

"I may soon author a research paper titled ‘Why do planned trips never work and unplanned ones rock?’. Yet another weekend trek plan to Kodachadri hit rough waters and it seemed I was destined for two days of wholesome sleeping and growing fatter. But, I chose to fight destiny (aha!).
A 11:00 am call to Manoj, a 11:10 am confirmation from him and the destination decided and a 11:30 am exit from my house. This was going to be my first trip with Manoj, the eternal tripper and also a constant inspiration for my own jaunts and fitness-enhancing activities. I reached his place by 11:45 only to find his Thunderbird idling, all set for a 150-km ride to Sravanabelagola."


"‘Not very imposing’ was my first thought. For some reason, I had always pictured the statue to be much, much taller, thanks to the TV coverage. I was slightly disappointed but nonetheless it is a magnificient structure, sculpted out of a single piece of rock. Few more rounds and snaps later, we started the walk down. Much faster this time, we (ok, I) regained our strengths through couple of Cornettos and by 4, we were heading off for the ride back home."





For more of these fotos, simply click here.

One night on SkandaGiri

All week long I tread the customary life… I crib, I swear, I binge, I ogle, I flare and during this weekend, I FORGOT.
At 2:30am, as my feet firmly perched the loose mud and rock, even as the backpack slipped down to the ground, I forgot my mediocre life, some 800ft below me. My limbs forgot the strain of the 3 hour trek to the top. I forgot my orientation as my eyes closed, leaving my bare chest to brave the gust of wind, threatening to blow me off the cliff. I forgot time, I forgot pain, I forgot myself and I, was at peace.

Back to Basics is the informal group of ‘Mafoi’tes, ex-Mafoites and friends who attempt to get back to basics over weekends. As a friend of a ex-Mafoite (read Raghu), I got invited (I have this feeling thou, that it was my bullet that got invited, Raghu needed the ride more than the rider).
At ground zero, confusion was rampant. The meeting time changes from 6pm to 6:30, the meeting point changes from opp Columbia Asia hospital to Sanjay Dhaba, the no. of trekkers go up to 22. And with a group as large as 22, even a dinner stop at Sangeeta dhaba meant crisscross of calls among the 2 bullets, 3 bikes and 3 cars, stoppages and more stoppages. Roti, daal, egg burgi and fried rice were served in buckets at Sangeeta dhaba.
To reach Skandagiri, proceed on NH7 towards Devanahalli and Chikballapur, take a left turn (at the Vishveshwaraih statue) towards the Town Police station. About 1-1.5 km take a right turn at the municipal hall, another 5-6kms will take you to Om Kara Jyothi Ashram, in all about 60 odd kms from Bangalore.
We reached the ashram at 11pm. Bhaskar struck a deal with a localite Govinda to guide us to the top. The group was an unusual mix of fit and not-so-fit guys and gals. We were trekking in the night with torches and moonlight. A small sub-team of Bhasker and others lost their way and could only join us because of the mobile network.
The trek itself involved climbing up mud and loose rock and some serious steep rock climbing too.
I was kinda irritated with the behavior of the larger group, chattering loudly and polluting the soothing silence the hills have to offer. In stark contrast to my previous trek to KP, where we made it a point not so much as to even speak, the campfire was not considered at all.
I took off ahead with the ol’ guide for a brief stretch and fell back sometimes all in an effort to find the silence back. As the night grew on, an ancient fort came into view. We trekked around the fort to the top, to a temple, the breeze welcomed us. I stood for what seemed like a infinite length of time taking in as much as I could. My shirt was off by now, with my arms outstretched, I only needed a pair of wings (or better still, a Kate to complete the scene a la The Titanic).
Leaving the others to fight out a campfire, Raghu and I settled into our sleeping bags to make most of the couple of hours left for sun up. (I like the sound of ‘sun up’).
I woke up at 530 hoping for a cloudy sunrise. With my chotu tripod and the Nikon S10, I captured some good pics of the sunrise. Cameras snapped to frame the spectacular landscape; we started the descent at 7am.
We descended following a steeper, shorter route. Raghu, Divya, Ssomething (right, I forgot her name too) and I were together for most of the climb down. We managed to find our way down, amidst shrubs, thorns, dead ends, strained calf muscles and broken toe nails.
Raghu and I had a quick breakfast of bread dipped in jam and took off quickly to cover the 70kms home. My butt settling on the leather of the bullet’s saddle was the most pleasurable feeling in all morning.

Fotos are available at: http://pics-by-manoj.fotopic.net/c1269363.html

Bangalore-Yercaud-Salem-Yercaud-Salem-Bangalore

It was yet another long weekend. My plan for the weekend was swinging widely between a 500km ride to Munnar to playing couch potato. Inertia was taking over, as I prepared myself for a quiet weekend at home.
The tipping point:
I was watching with awe the kindergarten kids perform at Bishop Cottons Annual school day (my nephew, Rishabh received a prize for academic excellence n all).
All was well until my brother-in-law threw a casual, “Hey, how far is Yercaud from here?”
It was only at 4 in the evening, it seemed possible to join them, I left at 4:30. There was also a new silencer and carburetor to put to the highway test. Yercaud is about 250kms and for most part on the 6-lane NH7, perfect for the testing.
It took me an hour of restrained navigation in the traffic before I could open up. On an empty stretch of Hosur Road, I opened throttle, there was a definite missed beat. For a moment I thought I was imagining things. Robert Pirsig talks about one having to be at peace with himself if he expects the same from the bike. I attributed what I thought was a missed beat, to my conflict of my perceived self and actual self; one ordering me to turn back and conjuring these cheap tricks (while the other made this theory up!).
The theory fell apart as quickly as it came up. The next open stretch and this time, I was looking for it, it was there, a series of missed responses. There was a problem with the new carburetor, the floats that moderate the supply of fuel into the engine was not working in the mid-range. It would work well on full throttle. (I promise I will spruce up the technical section of this blog). It meant I had a situation like in the movie Speed – you can ride only if you are over 100kmph. Just what the doc prescribed, I chucked all plans to abort. At every stop, I spilt some 50ml of petrol from the overflow outlet, I wanted to keep those to a min.
Hosur at 6, Krishnagiri as the twilight faded, another 130 odd kilometers via not so good roads to Dindugal and Salem. Rides in the night are a mental drain for the amount of concentration to keep yourself on road, alive, multiplied manyfold, in this case, by the ‘speed’ constraint. I reached Salem at 9, tired slightly, not particularly happy with my decision to ride in the night.
There is sheer Magic in the cool, crisp, pristine breeze that welcomes you at the ghats. And in the night, it offered an unparalleled spectacle of sparkling diamonds which transforms into Salem city under the sun. The climb of 28kms took me an unforgettable 60mins, rejuvenating me, simply sooper it was.
My sis, bil, and nephews – Rishabh and Aryan were booked at Sterling Resorts, perched right on the hill overlooking Salem. However, this competitive advantage of the location, makes up a bit for the lethargic service.
Any hill station worth its salt must have a lake, a few viewpoints, a waterfall and, of course, all those honeymooning couples. After pedaling the full family across the lake, we left the top by 1pm. At the bottom, I bid goodbye to sis, they had plans of visiting Tirupur about 140kms from Salem before heading back. I decided to carry on, my carb still generously donating petrol to the tarmac. Struck a conversation with an old man on a Luna Super, “All the way to Bangalore! don’t feel tired? etc, etc”.
Yercaud-Salem-Yercaud-Salem
I was well on target to be back home by 5-6. On the outskirts of Salem, I realized I probably forgot the novel “A Suitable Boy” back at the resort. One quick dive into the tank bag confirmed it. Is it true for everyone or is it only me, I do have these strong premonitions or do I simply call it a ‘premonition’ only if in fact it turns into one! That is how weird you think when you have to navigate 20 hairpin bends up and down in 2 hours. But fortunately, the Yercaud ghats are very precise, one right hand bend, a few smaller ones and invariably a left hand turn follows. Left-right-left-right right-left-right-left and I get back to the Salem Airport deviation, exact 2hrs after, A Suitable Boy stowed up safely. But honestly, it was more than pleasurable to take those curves, twice over!
(There is a mischievous plot brewing up with the suitable boy, the fantastic curves, the coming twice, etc, I leave it you to sew it up.)
Salem, Dindugal, Krishnagiri and Hosur came and went in one hour intervals and I was back home by 730.Pleasant ride, a treat to the eyes and lungs and a leaky BS29, that was the ride for me.
Total Distance covered: 540ms
Route: Bangalore-Krishnagiri-Salem-Yercaud.

300kms of nothingness

Route: Bangalore > Hassan > Sakleshpur > Gundya > Dharmastala > Bantwal > Mangalore
Distance: 397kms
Thanks to Aero India, the Karnataka Cauvery Bandh was postponed to 12th Feb, Monday, adding the much needed one extra day to my itinerary. I decided to take a detour to Dharmastala en route to Mangalore, where I had to attend the Brahmopadesham of my first cousin’s son, Shreyas.
This was the second trip post-surgery, first solo. Apprehensions were at all time high. I left Bangalore at 6:30 on Saturday. I was so famished on the first leg till Bellur cross, about 110kms from Bangalore, the first bite of the plain dosa was savored by all my taste buds. Apply the law on diminishing returns on a full stomach, and the second dosa will certainly not taste as good (esp. after a couple of idlys).
From there on, I did a continuous 180kms or so till I nearly reached Dharmastala in about 2.5 hours. You have to take a right turn on the Shirdi ghat, 12 kms from Gundya pass. There is only one general queue which leads to the ticket counter at the entrance. A cool 150 bucks for a normal archana or 330 bucks for another archana. I wonder if these profitable temples maintain some kind of finance books. There is nothing on the net on this. Anybody, Anything?
Kambala
I had this terrible headache all the time, and wanted to desperately catch a quick forty winks. The place was swarming with people, it was not quite appropriate and with Mangalore some 70 odd kms away, I thought I would do it at home.
As I was cruising along, there was this sudden festivity around a bend before Beltangadi. I learnt that this was KavaluKote village and a Kambala was on. I had my first encounter with the Kambala Buffaloes on my KP trip. The race was on in full spirit. Clad in leather jacket and gloves, ankle boots and a camera in tow, I got some questioning stares from the crowd. The headache vanished after that brief break and I reached Mangalore at 4 in the evening, to a nap and recharge.

Sunday was the day of the Brahmopadesham while the bullet remained parked at home.

ayyayoo anyaya ayyayoo anyaya
Monday, 12th Feb, was the day of Karnataka’s answer to the Cauvery tribunal verdict. Mangalore I would leave early and being far from the Cauvery basin, was not prone to any protests. I was anxious about crossing Sakleshpur, Hassan and Chanraypatna – all belligerent towns infamous for their mob mentality.
I was only able to leave Hebbar’s by 8am after a good breakfast of Ukma prepared by my loving cousin sister. I left traffic as I reached the BC road, from there on, there was NO traffic on the roads. The ghats belonged to me on that day, I would have passed less than 10 cars/trucks in the entire 300kms.
First stop was at Sakleshpur, which was oddly calm. As I approached Hassan blissfully enjoying the empty roads, I encountered my first road block. At Byrasandra forest check post, a group of about 30 villagers, had the road blocked from all sides. I silently parked in the side waiting for the initial protest to die down. There are sympathizers in any mob and one such suggested I wait for a few minutes and then push my bullet some distance and then ride off. And so it happened.
There were no incidents anywhere else. Road blocks, tire burning, protesters gathering shouting slogans would dot the empty roads, but no stoppages. Hassan, Yediyur, Kunigal, Nelamangala passed without incident. And with 30kms to home, while I was looking at a good 5.5 hours Bangalore-Mangalore record, I encountered the second road block - the highway is blocked with stones, twigs, burning tires. The protesters are typically youth and children, led by one or two local thugs. These leaders are usually drunk and have more than one mandate to fulfill. It is shocking and unfortunate to see kids take up canes impersonating the others, bullying people on roads.
I was made to park and join a group of other unlucky souls, then the ‘leader’ of the group puts a couple of questions and then gets to you shout slogans. And while the bad-mouthing of tamilians continues, we push our bikes across the barricade and ride away.
This charade continues a couple of more times, sometimes the barricades within 500m of the other.
As I neared the city (Jalahalli cross), the crowd grew larger and more belligerent, I took a deviation into one of the villages, rode on near non-motorable kucha roads and hit Jalahalli cross.
Despite the splendid ride, the premonition of namma Bengalooru turning into a social inferno, left a bitter after taste.