14/12/2013:-

                “Have you guys started?” I asked

                “In 20 Minutes” Santosh replied from the other end. It was already 07:20 and the second time they said 20 more minutes. I was getting restless, however managed to calm myself down thinking how this all started.

Sometime around June, Santosh mentioned about a road trip idea. Since I was longing for one, I never had second thoughts and agreed to it immediately. He mentioned his friend Abhishek (now a common friend for both of us) was coming for his yearly vacation, and wanted to do a road trip.

                All that came to our mind was northeast, and quickly we sat out and planned for a 2 weeks trip to Northeastern part of India. It was a full-fledged plan and we were almost ready to book the flight tickets, however Santosh said he can’t make it for 2 weeks. So we decided to have a short south India trip for 9 days.

                The proposed plan went something like this, Madurai, Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari, Thenmala, Ernakulam, Valparai, Coimbatore and return to Bangalore. However we agreed to change the routes as and when required.

                So, it was around 08:30hrs in the morning we were just 3 hrs behind our schedule. Santosh called me as soon as he reached near my place. We still had lot of work to do like, tying Santosh’s bag on his bike, drawing cash from ATM, filling Petrol, Checking air levels etc.

                By the time everything was over, it was almost 0915hrs, and we hit the National Highway, towards Salem. As usual NH was smooth and we were is a good speed. Oh, Yeah! I just forgot to introduce my fellow riders, though you might have already guessed their names.

1)      Santosh: - on his Royal Enfield Thunderbird 350cc, which was especially bought for the NE trip. I fixed the deal with my ex-manager. With his ghost mask on, he is the Ghost Rider of the team!!!!

2)      Abhishek:- The cool NRI guy, on his Standard 500cc, Which was rented for 9 days. I already said he is a NRI guy.

3)      Who is the third guy, of-course it’s me “Captain slow”. That’s the name I got on the very first day of the trip.

Now back to the highway, it was almost half past ten, and we all were very hungry. We stopped at Krishna Inn ordered our favorites. We noticed some passers commenting about our bikes and they would have already got an impression on what we were up to. Some of them even came to us asking, where we were heading and what we were planning to do at each destination. One gentleman asked whether we were riding for a cause. Of course I wasn’t riding for any cause, but Abhishek wanted to donate 10rs for each Kilometer he rides.

We then decided to proceed and have a break at Salem. However while crossing Salem we saw some dark clouds covering up. We didn’t want to get struck, so we rode bit faster (I mean they rode bit faster and I was catching up with them).

We were near Namakkal, when we took our next break. We were just in the middle of lunch and tea time, and couldn’t find a proper place to eat. We jumped into an Iyyengar bakery and started munching cake/ Puffs etc.., we still had 180kms to cover and without wasting much time, we started again.

Straight, long, free and spacious highways are bit boring usually for the bikers. You don’t want to ride fast, and don’t want to keep seeing the same dotted lines. We just crossed Dindugal by-pass where the unexpected just happened. My bike was the first to run-out of petrol. It went on reserve and wanted to find a place where I can fill in another full tank. There was a tiny bunk to my left and it was a great mistake that I didn’t choose to fill in fuel there.

For almost next 25 kilometers we didn’t find even a single fuel station and then as expected my bike stopped without any fuel. It was already 1830hrs and was getting darker.

We luckily had one empty water bottle, good that we thought of not littering around and wanted to through that out in a dustbin. I dried that a bit, and collected petrol from Santosh’s bike, because even Abhi’s bike was also getting dry.

All set, we started again, it was getting darker and we decided that we aren’t going directly to temple. We had to find a room, get fresh and think of next plan. By that time, Anto’s(Santosh) manager had called up more than 3 times to schedule a meeting. So even that was in the to- do list as soon as we reached the room.

We reached Fathima college, the gateway of Madurai city, when you enter the north side of the city. We started to search in our mobiles for hotels nearby Meenakshi Amman temple. After a couple of phone calls, suggestions from the internet God, Google and also some well-wishers from other hotels, we ended up at M3 hotel Madurai. It was newly build and that may be the reason behind offering us decent rooms at cheap rates.

Abhi and I got fresh, while Anto finished his office conference call. We decided to have a perfect dinner, as we all were hungry and tired. It was a tie between Amma-Mess and Konar-Mess and finally Amma (Mother)won it. We were surprised to see that it was a very small mess with all reasonable rates. While we were fully concentrating on the wall of fame, articles and photos of celebrities, food was being served side by side. We heard a man near our table guiding the waiters to suggest this and that to us. I turned to him and said, “Cool, We already ordered what we wanted” and moved my sight towards the wall again.

To my surprise he was the same guy with all those celebrities on those photos, he was the owner of the Restaurant, and still he was waiting at the tables. He winked at me and moved to the next table.  I mean, that’s how you treat your customers.

So after having an awesome dinner including, crab omblette, Chicken Dosa, Mutton Khola balls, we decided to walk to the hotel.  We reached our hotel and hit the beds. After having a couple of drinks and tiny training session of Rummy to Anto…..we started snoring soon……… 

15/12/2013:-

                It was a Sunday, and we had earlier planned to wake up early and visit Meenakshi Amman Temple, because it gets crowded almost after 0730hrs. However it was already 0800hrs when we got ready. We took only 2 of the 3 bulls, and proceeded towards the temple.

                After coffee and brief session by the vendor about the recent lighting that fell on the temple gopuram (temple tower), we proceeded towards the temple. As expected, there was a crowd and long queue. It wasn’t just the deity, whom you are visiting at these temples. It is also the architectural excellence which pulls large crowds even from foreign countries.

                Each time I visit these temples, I feel more proud to have such beautiful shrines in India.  They depict the dedication and rich cultural background which we have in our country. Even after 1000 years they stand tall and I am sure they will stay like this for another couple of centuries.

                After darshan, it was time for breakfast. “Have you heard of Murugan Idli?” Anto asked Abhi. That’s it we decided to have Idlies at the first ever Murugan Idli shop. Again, it was Google maps which guided us to the restaurant. We had another almost perfect breakfast, however were shocked to hear that they don’t serve coffee during breakfast. “What? Then it isn’t a perfect breakfast” we walked towards our bikes and had coffee at one of the famous “petty kadais” in Madurai.

                Just before starting our bikes, Abhi said he wanted to have Jigarthanda, one if the famous drink in Madurai. I suggested “famous” Jigarthanda, however Anto’s Google search pointed us to Jil-Jil Jigarthanda. I don’t know if both were same, or if we missed a lane on the map, but we ended in “Famous Jigarthanda”.

                It was time for us to hit the road already, however we agreed not to rush and spoil the happiness of riding. Around 1200hrs we were on the state highway to Rameshwaram. The tamarind trees on both the sides of the road, gave us a comfortable cool breeze to ride. There was a bit of opposite lane traffic because it was a two way road. I was riding slower again, which made Anto bit angry.

                We had all sorts of interrupts, from Buffaloes to donkeys, from hen to humans, from trucks to tractors. Everywhere I was behind and my team was all ahead of me. Atleast there should be some difference between those newer engines and this old cast iron, rite. We rode through Thirupuvanam, my great grandfather’s village, Paramakudi where Kamalhassan was born and reached Ramanathapuram again we were almost late for lunch. We atleast managed to get a small hotel this time.

                By now, I understood 3 valid points for me staying behind these two guys.

First, I had an issue with my speedometer. While it was showing as 80 kmph, it wasn’t actually running at 80kmph, it was running somewhere between 68-73 kmph. This we checked while we were on the way to Madurai itself.

Second, I was applying brakes too frequently than them. Because of this by the time I catch up the speed they go ahead for few meters.

Third, Of-course forget all the technical sh*t, they were riding faster than me what else do you expect me to say.

                We had a reasonable lunch and got ready to ride again. While we were almost ready to kick start, the restaurant owner came out to wish us good luck. Thanking him, we proceeded on our zig-zag, smooth snake track. While crossing Mandapam village and railway station, we already were feeling the salty breeze indicating we were very close to the coast.

                Just before entering Pamban Bridge, which one of the most wonderful modern day engineering excellence, we had a chance to enter a small lonely deviation. It took us to a very isolated sandy area just in between the Railway line and the Pamban Bridge. I couldn’t manage well on the sand, and dropped my bike to my right. It was just a matter of time before I heard a “crack” sound I understood something went wrong.

                My friends who managed to ride through a harder track in that area rode a few meters ahead and were very much involved in the scenery around us. They couldn’t have had a chance to notice that I had crashed. As usual they would have thought I was just riding slowly behind them. I managed to stand up, however lifting back my bike seemed to be an impossible task. I shouted to them and they came running to help me lift the bull.

                As expected the “crack” sound was nothing but a broken foot rest rod. Right end of it was broken. After all attempts, we came to a conclusion that it had to welded or replaced. However we can still ride the bike, only problem would be while applying brakes. I have to manage with the rear foot rest and bring by foot in front whenever I had to apply brakes. This wasn’t going to be easy for a guy who frequently applies brakes and I was sure that it cannot be fixed until we reached the next big town. Is it Tuticorin or is it Kanyakumari?

                While I was lost in these confusions, I saw Anto and Abhi were missing from the scene. They were already jumping around on the railway track and fully involved at the sea view from there. They obviously knew that it is not much of damage, I agreed to it and without wasting a second I joined their club. Almost all alone on a railway track which is running over a sea, I still don’t have any words to type our feeling.

                We took a couple of Facebook profile pictures and got back to the road. It was quite windy over the Pamban Bridge and I was able to see bunches of people standing on either side of the road to check out the view. I also took some snaps on the Bridge.

                We had expected Rameshwaram to be slightly bigger than what it was. The room which we had selected was just next to the main Ramanathaswamy shrine and we didn’t want to stay there. We realized that most of the hotels, cottages, guest houses were purely meant for the pilgrims and it wasn’t the only thing which we had planned to do here. We spent some time searching for a decent hotel, bit away from the shrine and good view of the sea.

                We managed to find one, Blue Coral Cottage, Sudukattanpatti (graveyard village). It wasn’t very scary; however the problem we had here was they offered us room only for one night. We had already decided to stay there for 2 nights because we had a lot of things to cover. Ernakulam was already out of our trip because Anto’s friend wasn’t coming. So we had already decided to stay 2 days in Rameshwaram.

                Something is better than nothing; we agreed to take that room for one night. We thought of getting a different room the next day. We got fresh, made a couple calls to home and friends. We decide to go out for a walk on the beach and have a drink at a nearby bar.

                Walking across those road-less lanes, we reached hotel Tamilnadu, which was supposed to have a bar in it. We searched a bit and were able to find the almost empty bar at a corner of the Hotel campus. Believe me; I haven’t seen such a lonely bar waiter in my entire life. A bored middle aged man behind the counter with a typical government employee looks stood behind the counter.

                “Bar???” I approached him to check if we had reached the right place.

                “Yes, this is!!!” he replied as if he knew the depth of our question

                “Where?” Anto asked without believing it still.

                “This is it!!!” the guy behind the counter cried, “This is the bar, that’s the AC Bar!!!” he showed us the so-called AC permit room. Broken ceiling, unpainted walls, uncleansed and unorganized tables and chairs, this was one of the best bars in that locality. It’s a holy town, what else can be expected. Of course people usually don’t visit there to booze and sleep.

The bar-wala understood what we were about to ask next, and before we could open our mouths he said, “Only Rum and Brandy! Beer No cold, Soft drinks are not available”. Ah, Just another feather on the crown. We were very tired and Anto even had a bad throat, we didn’t want to roam around further in search of other places, which may be worse.

Among us were a couple of north Indians and local-regular drunkards. The waiter/manager/supplier/ owner, that super all in one guy, gave us our drinks with the TV remote with the complimentary snacks.  With no cable or satellite TV connection, I wondered why he gave me the remote. He had connected his USB drive to the TV and had some songs in it.

After finishing our drinks, we walked towards the restaurant area of the hotel and it was already closed. It was just 2130hrs and walked again through those road-less lanes to find something to eat. There was a tiny mess and by the looks it was almost their closing time. Anto chose to check in his smartphone again for a better restaurant. Just before he clicked search, we dragged him into the restaurant and ordered food on his behalf as well…

With almost the whole town snoring, we walked towards our cottage, planning for the next day……… to be continued.

16/12/2013:-

                We had planned to visit Ramanathaswamy temple and Danushkodi (The ghost town) today. We walked down through the village streets and reached the temple, where we were told to keep the mobiles, cameras and other electronic gadgets outside in a cloak room.

                After the usual formalities, we were allowed inside the temple, it was another beautiful temple with remarkable idols and a divine essence flows through you as soon as you enter the temple. Except for the crowd, everything else gives you a divine experience, but crowd will be the first thing you would notice.

                It was very crowded and we didn’t want to become extra burden to the already tired, temple staff. We prayed from the entrance itself and took a round of the temple corridor. The longest corridor among the Hindu temples, were just colorful. They must have recently done the painting work, which completely hide its antic looks. The crowd was increasing and we managed to come out of the temple. That’s when I had a hidden urge to see the God, and kept it for the evening.

                After breakfast, it was time to visit Danushkodi the ghost town. There is road connectivity almost 3kms from Danushkodi. The place is called as Chathiram. We can ride or drive in our own vehicles there, however you need a four wheel drive after that because it is quite sandy.

                The first impression on reaching there was that we could do it. Without a second thought I rode on the sand track, until it got struck within 15-20 meters. This time my friends were not ahead of me, infact they were behind me, leaving me ahead to see what happened. I tried a couple of times to get it out of the sand, and by the time I was almost successful a jeep was just behind me honking badly. He wouldn’t even give a minute and almost sat over his vehicle’s horn itself.

                This is irritated me very much, and with Anto, Abhi and other villager’s help we pulled the heavy weight champion out of the sand and parked it on a road side. I for some extent felt that we were being forced to use the local transport from there, for their business benefits. With no other go, we parked out bikes, and started to look for Jeeps. We came to know that Jeeps can’t be hired from Chathiram, if needed we will have to hire it all the way from Rameshwaram.

                The only option left for us are the maxi-cab vans, which moves after stuffing 20-22 people in a 16 seater vehicle. When we boarded the first one, Anto’s knees were touching on his cheeks. I decided to wait for the next one with a better seat. We got the next van after almost 20-25 minutes and started dancing forcibly in the van. After almost 25 minutes of slow roller-coaster ride, we reached Danushkodi. Thanks to the window grills, which I was holding until we reached.

Sand, Sand, Sand on almost all the sides with some petty shops selling necklaces, bracelets, wind chimes made of sea shells. It was bit hard to walk on that sand, but the quest to reach the silent waves just within few meters made us walk faster. We took few snaps around the devastated village and took up a conversation with one of the shop keepers.

His name was Elango, and he was born 4 years after the terrific 1964 cyclone, which completely washed this small town.  While he was talking about that incident which approximately could have taken more than 100 lives, it looked as if the old buildings were back in shape. He almost took us to the past, and explained how this small port flourished with businesses. It was the nearest sea port to Srilanka and every day 100s people use to travel through this port. They had Ship Captain’s resting quarters, Immigration Centers, Railway stations, Schools, Church and everything. But today, only the word “THEY HAD” remained with few ruins to prove that.

Elango, explained how the winds changed directions, and how they used to move from one shore to other shore.   Of course, Gulf of Munnar and Bay of Bengal were not just beautiful two seas for them. They are gruesome at times and Gods save these people when both of them get angry. Danushkodi was one of the ghost towns, which were declared unsuitable for human existence after 1964. However few fishing families decided to stay back and go with the tide. They have been allotted government houses and plots within Rameshwaram town, however they don’t know any other business than fishing. So they just stayed back.

Our friend Elango also said, we could have gone till the tip of Danushkodi in our bikes itself. He said we could have taken the bike near the beach and could have ridden it on the water. It sounded as a great idea for us, and we were going to execute it as soon as we were back to Chathiram. One the way back to Van, we say the sacred floating stones. These were the stones taken from the bridge built by Hanuman and his Vanar Sena (monkey force). It was altogether a different feeling when we felt the sacred stones floating.

With mixed feelings, we boarded the van back to Chathiram. It was lunch time and since we didn’t find any proper place to have food, we decided to ride back to Rameshwaram. We left the operation “sea shore ride” for some other time and proceeded towards the town.

Santosh was ahead of us, and while crossing beach jungle, some crazy thought took over him. He took left and started riding towards the beach. It was just 400 meters of beach sand between us and the sea. We say him taking the rough route to the sea, and without waiting for a second, we also followed his track. Elango, would have thought that we were on some 100cc or mopeds to give us a suggestion to ride on the beach.

This mammoth machine wouldn’t just move ahead. Anto was ahead of us and seeing him very close to the sea, we also fought our way and reached the wet waters. With a great struggle we reached there just to find how badly Santosh was struck in the sand. We parked our bikes, in-fact it wasn’t necessary to use the rests because the wheels were already struck deeply inside the mud. We three lifted the rear wheel of the bike and managed to pull it out of the sand, and then came the challenging part. Where would you drop the rear wheel, so that it doesn’t get struck again? That’s nowhere near to us and Anto was in dragging the bike to find a better place to park it.

We were so involved in getting his bike out of the sand, that we almost forgot where we stood. As soon as, Anto was out of sand and was trying to park his bike at a better place, Abhi and I turned around to look at the sea.  Calm, Silent, Smooth waves were kissing our feet and without our knowledge it was also eating up the sand below our foot.

I turned to my left and it was a never ending coast all the way, and turned to my right except for Abhi there was no one else for almost miles ahead. I wanted to sit there and relax there for some time, and that’s when Abhi said “Machi!!! Kodak moment” with his teeth popping out of his thick beard.  Yeah, it was sure a moment to capture through lens and we started clicking each other’s photos. I bet mine came out very nicely because Abhi had a better camera and also has a steady hand.

After the Photo-shoot, I pushed Abhi’s bike and helped him to get it out of the sand. Anto was not around and I thought he reached the Road in the act of finding a better place to park. We also decided to ride back to the room. Abhi was ahead of me and I was left all alone, to take my bike out of sand. Instead or riding it, I put it on the first gear and started pushing it. It gave me a good result and my bike moved bit slowly ahead. Yeah with almost 80 kgs out of the bike, it would even sail smoothly on this sand. I wasn’t that correct though, after a few meters even that failed. Abhi parked his bike a bit ahead on small grass patch, and came to my rescue.

While we were pushing my bike ahead towards the grass patch, Anto came back from the tiny strip of woods which was just next to the road with a fairer version of Abhi.

Tim, was a middle aged Australian who was on a road trip like us, but he was all alone. I remembered seeing him while we were riding back from Chathiram and Tim was travelling on the other direction. With a small introduction, we found Tim getting restless. He wanted to get into the water badly. The beach was so near and calm, anyone would want to do the same.

I stood aside, while Tim, Abhi and Santosh jumped into the water. Their expression, showed how the felt inside the water. The sun wasn’t bright or hot and the water wasn’t salty. This tempted me as well and even I ran into the sea.

After a couple of dips in the sea, with no one around to stop you or watch your crazy actions Santosh and Abhi tried to pull me deep inside the water and failed. Time passed and we didn’t even realize that we had a long way ahead, till the bike, the bike to the road, and the highway to Rameshwaram.

When got ready when our tummies started to cry. We rode back to Rameshwaram again through the scenic state highway and reached our hotel. This time the difference was Tim was with us. Earlier today, the hotel team agreed to rent us a bigger room for the next day and we had already shifted the luggage to the other room. Tim managed to get a single bedroom for himself in the same cottage.

I wanted to visit the temple because I was told that it wouldn’t be crowded in the evenings. The others had plans to have food and a couple of drinks.

We parted ways, as soon as we got fresh and I started walking towards the temple and this time I was prepared and left the footwear, mobile and other electronic gadgets at the room. I took the same route to the temple and to my surprise the crowd was considerable less, in-fact nil. I had a long, peaceful and blissful darshan of the lord Ramanathaswamy and walked through the empty corridors of the temple.

I realized that even I hadn’t had any food after breakfast. Walking through the tiny lanes I reached the Rameshwaram beach. I had few chats, samosas made by guys who usually prepare bhajjis and bondas the south Indian snack varieties. It was getting dark and I returned to my room and even 3 musketeers were also back after their mini lunch. Tim wanted to keep a name for the group because he was also travelling with us till Kanyakumari. We had our versions and soon forgot about it while discussing more interesting topics.

We started playing Rummy in our room. Each of us was playing our own versions and it was dinner time within no time. We didn’t want to end up with less options like the previous night and decided to ride to the nearest, decent non-vegetarian restaurant.

Hotel Prakash, behind the temple was upto our expectations. Tim wasn’t sure what to order, and all of us including the waiter suggested our favorites to him. He ended up with fish fry and Parotta. After our dinner, we rode back to our rooms. I forgot to mention about the usual starting trouble in Abhi’s bike. It wouldn’t start until and unless you dance with it for a few times, and I learnt that trick while we were in Madurai. However Abhi wasn’t doing well when it comes to starting the bike. So, when I got down from Anto’s bike and went to help Abhi, it sounded funny to Tim. Not for us because we were already getting used to it.

We rode back to our hotels and sat on the terrace. It was almost a full moon day, and the moon was shining in the sky. We were able to see the clouds catching up with each other very fast in that moonlight. While, Abhi, Anto and Tim were very much involved in discussing almost all topics in the world, I lied down facing the sky. I started counting the clouds chasing each other and matching the stars in the sky. If not for the floor beneath me and for the folks sitting around and discussing world economy, I would’ve thought myself flying towards the moon.

Anto also was feeling sleepy, and enough counting the clouds and stars, we decided to hit the beds……….

17/12/2013:-

                Mornings usually are funny. We blame each other on who started snoring first, who has to get ready first and who will check the room last etc., It was not as rough as the ones in schools or hostels, but a smoother version.

                The previous night we were discussing about starting at 0730hrs. Even after teaching, Tim about the ‘Indian stretchable time’ the previous night, he was almost ready by 0745hrs. In fact I noticed him ready by 0745hrs and I don’t know how long he was waiting like that. I saw Anto dragging himself towards the washroom and Abhi still snoring. I told Tim to relax for some more time as we had ample time to hit the road still. Tim said he will take some rest and get back with a name for the team.

                After all the usual stuff, we started at 0845hrs and rode along the stretch towards Ramanathapuram. We had to take the same route back for almost 45 kms and take south towards, Thoothukodi, Thiruchendur, Kuleshakarapattinam, Kanyakumari. 

                Now we were 4 of us, and still had a long way to go. Leaving behind, Rameshwaram, Danushkodi, Pamban, Mandapam we moved ahead carrying only the sweet memories…….

                It wasn’t easy to move ahead, now I had to keep up with 3 guys. I tried my best and without one foot rest, it wasn’t easy to maintain speed. It was also windy and I had a tough time to balance. As usual I lost them and all of them including Tim were ahead of me. After almost 30-35 minutes, I saw a very familiar face, feeding some Emu birds and it was Abhi. They had just stopped for breakfast, and I took a turn and reached the highway restaurant.

                Anto was the first person to tell me that I wasn’t very slow this time. Abhi followed and Tim would have got an idea about my riding skills. We finished breakfasts and ordered coffee. Coffee was severed in typical south Indian style cup and saucer. The cups (usually tiny steel glasses) and saucer (which is deeper than the usual ceramic saucers). I usually pour the coffee on the saucer and take smaller quantities in the glass and sip it. Tim liked this style and started following it.

                After our breakfast, we started towards Thoothukudi, we had to fix my bike and Abhi also had some minor adjustments on his bike. We planned to have lunch at Thuthukudi and do all the stuff. We were riding slowly and together, thanks to the bad roads and my friends were not able to ride faster. I was riding ahead of them this time and was in a normal speed. I wanted to stop for a tender coconut and stopped near one tender coconut shop and Abhi joined me. We were waiting for Anto and Tim, and they were riding at a normal pace and didn’t slow down even after seeing us. Santosh showed some signs which we were not able to understand.

                There was some problem for sure, and we started our bikes and followed them. In no time we were just behind them. Anto told me that Tim’s bike’s clutch wire broke and if he can stop only at some place where it can be fixed. We were in no mood to get struck in some remote village. I chose to ride ahead and check for a garage which handles Royal Enfield. While I was enquiring in a couple of garages Anto and Tim managed to locate one in the nearest town.

                Abhi and I had spare clutch cables however it was not compatible with Tim’s bike; however the mechanic managed to use some of his spares and fixed the bike. Within a short while, we were back on track. We reached Tuticorin (Thoothukudi) and searched for a shop which dealt with Royal Enfield spares. It was a unknown shop near Sugam hotel complex and they had all the spares for Bullet. I removed my Riding jacket and got into work. Tim wanted to check his bike’s engine oil level and it showed up too low. He got down refilling it. Abhi checked the battery levels because he wasn’t happy with the Electric start on the bike. With the help of few good hearted locals, who helped us with the tools we fixed our bikes. It was lunch time and the same locals helped us in finding a famous non-veg restaurant.

Lunch was heavy and I started feeling sleepy. I was praying that I shouldn’t park the bike upside down under some tree. However roads turned out to be more interesting and worse that I lost my sleep within a while. We came out of the Thoothukudi town through some areas which sounded very funny like, Boltenpuram, Bucklepuram etc.

We had an option to take the National highway all the way till Kanyakumari through Thirunelveli and Nagercoil. However we chose to ride on ECR which someone told us was very scenic and smooth. I am still trying to find that someone. Roads were good, better, bad, worse, worst when we reached Kanyakumari.

It was very dusty and broken. I was riding behind a bus and wanted to overtake it badly because of the dust. I tried to ride as fast as possible and rode into a deep big pot hole. I jumped and landed a few meters ahead and took a while to control the bike. I almost fell the second time, but I managed with a safe landing. My Bike’s carburetor pin got jammed and petrol was leaking from it. I had to park it for a minute and adjust that. I was happy that it wasn’t much complicated; however I had to periodically check if the fuel was leaking.

After riding for few more kilometers, I saw Anto and Tim together. They stopped in middle of some windmill estates and were relaxing. I rode next to them and stopped, thinking Abhi would have run ahead of all of us. I was sure that he wasn’t behind me. Because I was the last in the group and I had also stopped a couple of times to check the carburetor and fuel leaks.

Abhi reached 10 minutes later and as expected he had a de-tour of 5 kilometers. Abhi is good when it comes to talking or listening in Tamil. However he wouldn’t had chance to read the sign boards written in Tamil. It was already getting dark and we had another 30 kms to cover.

And then came the worst stretch of roads. They were infact building the roads and everything was just half done. The rubbers, shocks, seats and our backs had tough time in that. Trying to avoid pot holes and sharp tiny stones, we crossed kudankulam nuclear power plant. Again I was the last to reach Kanyakumari and just below the “WELCOME TO KANYAKUMARI” arch I found 4 bikes waiting for me.

I was expecting 3 and there were 4. By the time I reached, these guys found a new company. Surya was in his RE 350cc Classic and was on his way to Rann of Kutch. He joined the group and Tim was still thinking of a nice name for the group.

We searched for almost 30 minutes and Anto came up with a best deal. He found a 5 bed AC room for just 1500Rs. We reached the room and got fresh. We were already very tired and wanted to get some rest very soon so that we could wake up early to see the sun rise. However it took us a long time before we found a proper dinner joint.

When we went to sleep, I was in a doubt and wasn’t sure if we would get up the next day to see the sunrise…………………!!!!

18/12/2013:-

                My worries about waking up early vanished as soon as I heard the doorbell ring at 0500hrs. At first we wanted to scold the guy for waking us up so early. But he just did that because he didn’t want us to miss the Sunrise.

                After getting ready we dragged ourselves to the beach. We were surprised to see that almost rest of the town was already there waiting for the sun to rise. Some road side vendors with their products were selling goods as if it was their peak-hour of business.

                We managed to find a place to sit and waited. Time passed and we were getting restless. It was like sun was taking revenge, because I wake up usually when he is halfway on the sky. Google predicted the sunrise to be at 0626hrs. However it took a couple of minutes for the sun to get passed through the pollution ring and show itself out.

                He rose silently and stretched his arms of light all over the sky. The sky, the sea, the tiny fishing boats, the Vivekananda rock, Thiruvalluvar statue, everything were getting brighter and brighter. We were not able to see continuously once the sun was fully in the sky. The brightness irritated our eyes and we began looking at our shadows and walked towards the hotel. Our wish to take a boat ride to Vivekananda rock and Thiruvalluvar statue got washed away with the sea when we saw a never ending long queue at the pier.

                We reached our rooms and it took a while for us to decide our next action item. We agreed to touch ‘Cape Comorin pin point’, the southernmost tip of India. We rode in our bikes and reached the pin point which was very silent and isolated. We enjoyed our view at the pin point with Arabian Sea to our right, Bay of Bengal to the left and the vast Indian Ocean ahead of us. I was the first person to reach there, as everyone else had parked their bikes in a nearby parking area. Rest of our gang went back to the parking lot and brought their bikes and parked it, for the photo session.

                While our heart was filled with joy and satisfaction of reaching the tip of the country with our own bikes, our stomachs had altogether a different version. The empty vessels were starting to make noise, and we had to fill them as soon as possible. We rode to the nearest restaurant and filled our stomachs and proceeded to our hotel rooms again.

                We had to decide our further course of travel. We had 2 options, to Take Coutrallam, Aryankavu route or to take Thakalay, Thiruparappu route to reach Thenmala which was our next destination. Either ways, we had close to 150kms to ride and waterfalls on the way to relax a bit. We decided to take Thakalay, Thiruparappu route because we thought it would be easier for Tim and Surya, who were supposed the have their own destinations ahead.

                When almost everything was set and we were getting ready to hit the road, Tim decided to stay back at the hotel and relax for another day. Surya also had plans to directly precede to Kasargod his next destination. Anto, Abhi and I started off to Thenmala via Thiruparappu water falls.

                The road wasn’t too good and wasn’t bad though. However it took us a long time to cut through the busy roads of Thakalay and Kulashekharam. Since it wasn’t very clear on the map, I thought that the waterfall was just next to Pechiparai Dam. However I was wrong, we took a deviation of almost 6kms on a bad road. Atlast when we reached Thiruparappu we were very tired and exhausted. We didn’t have any other option than taking a tiny room in a hotel to leave our bags while we were inside the water. They quoted Rs500/- for a very tiny room which we were not even going to use for more than 2hours. But with Anto’s Negotiation skills we managed to get it for Rs200/-.

                Within no time, we took our towels and proceeded towards the waterfall. We jumped into the water and found some place to park our bodies. The force of the water gave a natural massage for us. Initially we were not able to bear the pain; however we got used and stood with both the eyes closed. It was as if the water was just washing out all our pains and tiredness. We were just getting refreshed and our energies were getting regenerated.

                After an hour long natural massage and relaxation, we went back to the room and got dressed for our next part of the journey. After a tasty Kerala style meal with beef and fish curries it was again hard to keep myself awake on the ride.  Little did we know that we were going to get separated from each other in next couple of hours!!!!!

I usually check the map and note down the names of the small downs on the way to my destination. So whenever I get lost, I enquire the locals for the nearest town which I have noted down and keep myself on the track. It is because you might have different routes to reach the destination and not all the local public might know the shortest routes. Abhi doesn’t follow that method, he usually enquires the route to the destination directly, and one of the locals suggested him to take a longer route.

Since I was a slow runner, I never worried when I don’t see both Abhi and Anto ahead of me. I used to think that they were bit ahead of me and were riding fast. I used to follow the same track, enjoying the beauty of the think dense forest.  While I was riding I saw school children alighting from buses and rushing towards their homes. It was becoming a common sight for next 30-40 minutes indirectly saying that the time was somewhere between 1600-1645hrs when children return from school. After around half an hour, I was able to see some small kids in plain clothes with cricket bats or footballs, and it suggested me that the time was around 1730 hours.

I started realizing that I hadn’t seen either Anto or Abhi for almost 2 hours and that’s when Anto called me. He asked where I was and I told him I was nearing “Nanniyode” a small town on the way to Thenmala. He said he was behind me and asked me to wait near Nanniyode. “Abhi is also missing, I need to search for him and we will meet at Nanniyode in a shortwhile” he added.  I was sure that these two had taken a deviation somewhere and took a different route.

Nanniyode, was a small town and was a junction were roads from almost 4 directions met. It wasn’t a straight road, it was an ‘S’ curved road, with shops on both sides. Few Auto-rickshaws were seen with their local football team flags here and there. Very rarely buses would stop alighting passengers and luggage. After waiting for 25 minutes Anto came from the same road on which I reached Nanniyode. He saw me, but didn’t slow down. He waved his hand saying that he will be back. He took a turn on the curve and went to the other side and disappeared.

After another 5 minutes he came back with Abhi from the other side of the road. Ah, Atlast after 3 hours we all assembled together. Abhi told that he was waiting on the other side of the curve for almost 20 minutes. We realized that we were just waiting meters away from each other, for each other.  A major dis-advantage of not having each other’s contact numbers even on the 6^th day of the trip.

                Abhi had taken the longer route to Nanniyode, while Anto followed him for a few kilometers before realizing it was a wrong route. Anto decided to return back to the same route and that’s when I would have over took him and was ahead of him. Anto was successful in assembling us all at common point. It was getting dark and we had to reach Thenmala soon, because we had no idea on how that town was and what were the staying options.

                We were riding over the mountains and it was getting colder. At around 1900hrs we reached Thenmala, a town which was almost shutting down for the day. At the very first glimpse we were able to understand that we wouldn’t be getting any luxury even if we paid more money.

                It was a very small town, under the control of forest department. All they had was a reservoir, dam next to it, a power station and a thick forest surrounding these. Not to miss the isolated Railway station, this was also lonely without any passengers. Since it fell on a highway which is usually busy during Sabarimala pilgrim season, we were able to find few road side tiffin houses.

                It took a while for us to search for a place to stay. At a place like that even Google failed to give us suggestions. With the help of few local, we visited the Eco-Tourism office near the Dam office. We were very lucky to find the caretaker there and if we had been late by 10 minutes, he would have already left the office.

                He offered us a decent room to spend that night. We were very tired and just wanted to hit the beds as soon as we reached. However the poor tummy wouldn’t allow that. Anto had severe headache and wanted to take rest for some time.

                I and Abhi got fresh, and decided to check for a civil supplies shop to buy liquor. Since Santosh was very tired and had a headache, he had left the key on the bike and went to bed just like that. He even also didn’t re-tie the rope which was used to tie his bag on the bike. Scolding him for leaving the key on the bike and without noticing the unwound rope on the rear backrest, we started the bike. Before reaching the gate of the inspection bungalow (where we stayed) the rope got into the wheels and also broke the indicator of his bike. That was an “Ouch!!!” moment of the day!

                With a bit of an uneasy feeling, we untied the rope, and rode the bike again to get liquor and side-dish. Anto who already had a headache was not at all happy with this. We drank for a while in silence, and slowly things became normal. Thanks to the Indian test cricket team who were losing against South Africa. After having dinner, we went under the thick bed sheets to hiding ourselves from the cold.

19/12/2013:-

                 Our destination today was either Thekady(Kumily) or Munnar. We chose to decide on it at the time of exit from Thenmala town. After breakfast and check-out we roamed around the Dam site for some time. Someone suggested us to take a walk on the Leisure zone.

                We took tickets from the Eco-tourism office some meters away from the Dam and entered the Leisure Zone. It was a long walk, but wasn’t tiring. They had hanging bridge, sculpture garden and view of the Kallada Dam. After spending time there, we proceeded to the “Pathimunu Kannara Bridge” which is a landmark in Thenmala. It is a railway bridge just next to the road, built over 13 rock pillar archs. It usually is a good sight to see the railway bridge next to a highway which is in the middle of a thick forest.

                We took some snaps around the bridge and started off for Thekady. Since it was already 12 noon, it was just appropriate to choose Thekady as our next destination. This time, we rode one behind other and stuck together until Konni, where we had lunch. The road was getting busier because of the crowd to Sabarimala. By the time I reached Erumely, Anto had already lost Abhi again. Anto agreed to slow down his speed for me so that at least we both were together. Crossing pilgrims in Erumely we proceeded towards Peeramedu which was on the way to Thekady.

                We were able to catch Abhi in a short while from then we were together on the zig-zag highway. Peeramedu was attractive at the very first sight, and we stopped to have a cup of tea and enjoy the view. Abhi was having a conversation with a local about the Communist and Congress rule in Kerala. Anto and I started looking at more interesting things like, Pazhampori, Bonda (Local snacks made of banana and Potatoes respectively) and Tea. Their topic moved from politics to wild animals around that area, while moved from Tea to other local savories.

 After their discussion was over we started back on our route, and within a short while dark clouds surrounded us. Initially I wasn’t able to understand if it was getting dark because of the time or if it was because of my Sun glasses, but when a couple of drops fell on my finger I was sure that it was raining. I rode for a couple of kilometers while it was drizzling, but the rain was getting heavier. I saw my both of my teammates had stopped near a small tea shop to escape from rain. I too stopped there and just for time-pass we ordered tea again. I made a stray dog my friend while we were sipping our tea. Its simple to make friendship with these poor ones, all you need is a small pack of biscuits and a smaller piece of affection towards them.

Rain had stopped by then and we started again. We rode for another 15 kilometers and rain showed its teeth again. We stopped again near a tea shop, initially we thought he was offering help, however had to drink another tea to pay him back for his courtesy. It was already 3^rd Tea in one hour. The beauty of tea is when had in limited quantities, it refreshes you, when you exceed a limit, it washes away even a small dust from your stomach. When the rain stopped again, I decided not to stop anywhere until we reached a hotel room, as pressure was already building up.

We were crossing Vandiperiyar, which was near to Kumily and it started raining again. We saw a resort next to us and just before the rain was getting heavier we rode into the resort. It was either going to be a heavenly stay or just another costly tea. We checked for the rooms there, but they were quiet expensive and weren’t that worthy. However I managed to flush out the after effects of tea and we waited for the rain to stop.

While we waited we searched for other options to stay in Kumily and chose a couple a homestays. Google suggested different routes and many home stays and guest houses just behind the bus station. We rode on the directions suggested by Google just to end up in some dea-ends and very narrow lanes. We even rode over some drainage slabs to get out of the so-called sub-urbs of Kumily. Again with some help from local public we got a perfect stay in Kumily.

“Elephant hill” homestay was one of the best accommodations we had got in the entire trip. The owner, Shaji was very friendly and gave us a decent room with a nice balcony. He also agreed to take us in his car for elephant safari and sightseeing. We thanked him and parked our bikes under a big tree. The trees and bushes around the cottage, gave a look and feel of a dense forest. It was already a hill station and the after effects of the rain were making Kumily colder than usual. We badly needed a bath after a tiring ride, and were wondering if we would find any hot water. Shaji had solar heaters installed and boiling water just poured rapidly from the taps. Infact it  was hard to search for cold water to mix with the boiling water. After getting fresh, we walked down towards the bus station in search of a decent bar. With each one of us pointing to different directions as per our smart phone’s suggestion we decided to check the area around the bus station first.

We walked and walked and from every corner of the town we were able to see only one LED hoarding which read, “Hotel Kumily Tower Bar”’ and was next to the bus station. Later when we entered the Bar, we came to know it was the one and only bar in that whole town. After a variety of typical Malabar cuisine with a couple of drinks, we walked back to our cottage.  The bus station was just shutting down and shop keepers were closing down their stores. Some happy and some not satisfied. We walked across the bus station, and took the small lane behind that, which was a short-cut to our cottage.

We sat in our balcony and with no one around to disturb us, had another couple of pegs. It was still cold, dark and we were able to listen to the noise made by tiny insects around the bushes. We went to sleep after having enough of the dark noises. 

20/12/2013:-

When I woke, I wasn’t sure if it was dawn already. Because the big tall trees around the guest house covered the entire area from sun light.  The previous night I thought it would just be a small park with a couple of bushes and plant with a single tree, under which we had parked our bikes. It wasn’t the case. They had big trees, small beautiful flowering plants, an open area for camp fire and lot more.

 We got ready and again walked out to find a proper breakfast hotel. It just took an hour to find a suitable breakfast joint again thanks to confusions caused by Google. After breakfast Shaji was ready with his car, but we insisted on taking our bikes because he could drop us and return back while we spent as much time we wanted.

He agreed and drove just ahead of us. After 20 minutes we reached a park where they organized elephant rides and other activities. Shaji left us there with a brief introduction.

There are several such elephant safaris organized around Kumily and Thekady and the reality is I forgot the name of this Elephant Park where we went. They had a variety of activities and packages, Ranging from simple elephant ride, feeding the elephant, Washing the elephant and some more. We chose to just ride on the elephant. I chose to sit at the back, while the fight was on for the front seat. NRI won the fight and Anto had to sit in the middle.

While both tried to push me from the elephant, it was hard for me to hold on to the cart and stick over there. With each step that big animal took, we made a little dance move above it. Abhi gave his mobile to one of the mahouts to take few pictures. As if he was waiting for a chance, the mahout grabbed the phone and started taking photos left and right. He would’ve taken atleast 100 snaps in that 40 minute ride without even wasting a single minute. With all little dance moves, we rode over the coffee plantations around. We were just returning to our childhood and imitating like old kings on these mighty ones.

We landed on the ground and took some snaps with our big friend and spend some time around the plantations. Then the elephant was taken to its resting place, where they washed him before leaving it for taking rest. It lied down on a pool of water and while the mahouts where washing it, using its trunk it took water from a tap next to the pool and drank it. It shows the cleanliness which it maintained. An, elephant wouldn’t just eat anything and everything. I have even seen then wash their grass before eating it when they are in the forest. Similar thing happened here, it was lying on a pool of water and it didn’t even drink a single drop of water from the pool. It chose to drink from the tape which was cleaner.

After spending some time and watching other elephants having their food, we rode to Thekady, The Periyar wildlife sanctuary. We took the entry pass and rode till the permissible area and parked our bikes. The toughest thing now was to safeguard the helmets from our ancestors. Since mine was bit old, I tied it to the crash-guard of the bike and started walking. We walked silently through the thick woods across the people who were posing in front of each tree and bush. They were also making some noises, imitating and showing faces which disturbed the animals. We maintained as much silence as possible. Since Thekady was one of the preferred honey moon destinations in South India, we saw many couples around us. It was a tough time for some cab drivers, whose clients were just married. They had to take photos of their customers, without shaking, with better lights, with good background and what not. Some ladies were in their full adventure clothes, jeans and jackets and also wore Bangles till their Elbow joints, which made them look funnier than they usually were.

We walked till the boat jetty (pier) and sat there for a while to see if we could spot some wild elephants. We waited there for a while and couldn’t get any sight of them. We were satisfied with monkeys and came back to our bikes. Luckily the monkeys had not damaged our helmets, we safely road back to the hotel.

Shaji, told not to miss the Thekady to Munnar road, and told it would be better to ride on that route during the day time. He had also told how lucky we were because the route on which we had travelled the previous day was recently laid. We took his advice, got ready and took the next 100 kilometer stretch to Munnar.

Earlier we had a plan of finishing this stretch in 3 hours, because it was just 100kilometers. Even the roads were very smooth and wide. However some breath taking views didn’t allow us to complete the ride in 3 hours. We had to stop every now and then, especially when we were nearing Munnar. The stretch started with dense forest, with tall old trees on both the sides of the road. We had to cut through some sharp curves and blind U turns. Then we entered some villages, and rode between some narrow stretches and at last came the tea gardens. We were riding just in the middle of acres of Tea plantations.

Abhi and Anto took a de-tour again to fill in petrol. While I was riding ahead of them thinking I was left behind. I took a couple of stops to capture the views through my eyes and camera. When I was told that I am ahead of the other two, I took this as a chance and parked my bike at the most beautiful spot. It was almost the end of the day for the tea estate laborers. The ladies were emptying their basket full of tea leafs at the collection center, where 3 other men stood beside them. Not more than 12-15 ladies stood on the queue with their baskets. They gave their basket to one of the men, who seemed to be youngest of the 3 men.  He placed the leafs on the weighing machine,  and then shifted them to a bigger jute bag which the second guy was holding. The complete process was monitored by another middle aged, decently dressed gentleman who recorded the yield on a register.

The ladies after emptying their baskets jumped off the road and walked rapidly through the Tea plantations to their homes. The other men stood around the filled Jute bags and waited for a collection van to collect them to the factory.

After watching them work for 10-15 minutes, I shifted my sight towards the plantation. It initially looked like someone had just drawn this sketch using a ruler. The plants were so perfectly grown with equal distance from each other. They had small pathways for people to walk through them. The entire slope was evenly cut and had a complete green cover over them. In the meantime Abhi and Anto reached the spot and joined me in taking some snaps for each other.

We found a couple of homestays and resorts over there, but we chose to visit Munnar and then decide about the stay. We rode for almost four and a half hours and we still had another 20 kilometers to ride. There was a tiny waterfall on the way and a view point which was filled with clouds. We didn’t stop too long there because it was also filled with honey moon couples. Abhi still had issue with his head lamp, which was only powering on in high beam mode and he had also missed one of his riding gloves. Now we just had my pair of gloves and one of Abhi’s gloves. I suggested using one for each, however Anto returned my gloves on the way and they both rode without it.

We reached Munnar around 1830hours and started checking for hotels. It was already Friday, and Munnar was getting ready for their usual peak hours of business which is usually during the weekend. I was visiting Munnar after almost 10 years and it portrayed a drastic change. We took our mobiles and checked for hotels. We were just praying to find some stay just like the one we had in Thekady. However we can’t be lucky always. We spent more than 30-40 minutes just to search for a proper place to stay. They either didn’t have any vacant rooms, or they were very costly and not worthy. We rode for few kilometers in search of hotels and most of them had a bus parked in their car parking which gave us a clear indication of no vacancy.

The home stays had also increased their rates seeing the demand for the nearing Christmas weekend. Atlast we found a home stay bit away from the busy town area. Casper cottage was the name. Since we were not able to find the exact location, we asked the care taker to come down to show us the route. We waited near a landmark junction, and all we were able to see ahead was a dark road. Minutes later a lean, dark shadow appeared from the very same road. He was the care taker and he replaced my back pack in the pillion. He asked us to ride on the same dark lane and all of sudden, he asked us to take right. It took a while for me to realize that there was a lane to my right. Then when I took that lane, my bike wouldn’t climb the hill. I struggled a bit and pushed him to first gear and with a roar he moved forward and reached a small dead end.

It was a small hill-top with very few houses on them. Most of them seem to have shared their front portion for home stays and accommodation. Since it was dark, I wasn’t able to completely see how many houses were around. I think there were 3-4 houses with tiny terrace farming in front of their houses. Most of them had a separate guest rooms which they had rented out during peak seasons.

 We got into the cottage and we were surprised by the first looks of the room. It was a tiny room, however good enough to accommodate 3 people. Anto’s head was just inches below the roof, so we asked him to be careful. We had no other option and were tired to go back and check for some other room. We dropped our bags and got fresh. Again there was plenty of hot water.

We took only 2 bikes and rode out in search of dinner. When I had first gone to Munnar, I had awesome Kerala Parotta on a road side shop. I thought of checking that place, for which Anto and Abhi agreed. We went to the central market place and to my surprise that small road side shop wasn’t small any more. It was still on the road side, however bigger than I had thought. They had 3 different carts, one for Idlis, One for Dosa and curries. The other for non-veg curries and Egg dishes. There also was a separate slab for making Kerala Parotta. The entire set-up was under a huge tent, which they remove it after the business over. We ordered parcels, and I stood beside the cashier and started chatting with him.

“Since when are you running this business?” I asked. He wasn’t really willing to answer at the first shot. Either he was busy taking care of the omelets or he thought I was a government official questioning him. “I think I had been here almost 10 years back” I added.

“We have been running this business for almost 30 years now!!” He answered. It made clear that he was not the one who is worried about any government official. “People come from various parts of the country and even upload our photos in Facebook”, He said.

Since he had already had some much of publicity, and we were not much interested we didn’t take any picture around that place. We returned back to our rooms. The silent lanes and deep dark forest view from the balcony raised our temptations to sit there for some time. It was very cold outside; still we sat on the balcony and were discussing things on a low voice, because it was a silent residential locality. After a while, with dogs singing lullabies at a distance, we went inside the room and started snoring.

21/12/2013:-

It was a lazy start for us. I woke up with a ring at the door, the cottage owner, asked me to move Santosh’s bike a bit so that they can take their car out. I went out with my boxer shorts and thin T-Shirt which I was wearing while sleeping. As I stepped out I felt the effects of it. The chillness ran into my nerves and I immediately started shivering. I managed to reach till Anto’s bike and then remembered that I had forgotten the keys. Luckily I didn’t have to move the bike too far. I managed to lift it a bit and helped their car out of the parking. My legs started dancing automatically and I was still holding the bike with all the strength I had. I didn’t want to drop it and again cause more damage to Anto’s bike. All our bikes were also wet because if the early morning due, which made my task just tougher.

As soon as the car left, I ran into the room, and covered myself with as much bed-sheets as possible. Anto woke up while I was still shivering. He asked to check for Tea or coffee and went to get fresh. I was in no mood to get off the bed, and waited until I got a couple of shouts from him.After the tea was served, we checked for things to do and places to visit in Munnar.

We realized that some of the places were already covered while on the way from Thekady. Anaimudi was on the way home, and there was a national park around it. After checking out, we managed to start our bikes in no time, despite the chillness. Thanks to the slope, which helped us ride through it and do a cold start. We had breakfast and took the Udmalpet road. The road was good; however we couldn’t enjoy the ride for some time because of the upcoming traffic. We reached Anaimudi just to find over 200 people standing on the queue to take a safari till the peak. We had less or no option to leave the bags and bike just in the parking lot.

Anaimudi was dropped out because we couldn’t take our bikes to the peak. At-last it’s a ride for our bikes, not for us. We rode across few more tea gardens, and this time most of them were empty without any workers. Seems they had their day off or they were just diverted to other areas of the estate. Whatever it was, it was just a blessing for us, because we were able to take few snaps in and around the tea estates. We rode towards chinnar national park thinking that they might have few safari trips. However they weren’t having many options as we thought.

While we touched the foothills, almost 20-25 enfielders were just starting their day. They were riding towards Munnar which was just a perfect ride for the weekend. We rode on the plains; the roads were just getting smoother and wider. We were running out of ideas on where to visit next. We weren’t having enough places around and most of them which I knew around were temples. I didn’t want to just another temple and get a swollen cheek while returning home.

“Okay enough, we’ll just have a good non-veg biryani and go home!!!!”  Abhi said. And we started our biryani hunting.

“Okay enough, we’ll just manage with a vegetarian meal” It was Abhi again, but after a 30 minute search around the small lanes of Udumelpet.

We had an awesome veggie meal at Anandhaas and were checking on the India-South Africa series. When we came out, few small kids rounded us up and were cheering us. Waving them good-bye we rode towards my home first. We already had a deal that if we had reached Coimbatore before sun-set then the first stop was at my place.

Sun set was couple of hours away and we were already near my home. I had been to my home in bike a couple of times earlier, but after marriage this was the first time. I thought I would get some severe blasting as soon as I was in. However Anto and Abhi saved me from that. Most of my family members including my grandma were waiting for me.

I just read them out the complete story in short. When my aunt started her list of temples saying that we should have visited so many temples on the way, I saw Abhi slightly slipping out from the chair. They decided to leave as soon as possible. Abhi stayed with Anto that night and I agreed to meet them at one of our common friend’s home the next day.

Mom came back from her work and poured her share of advice, but she was happy that I had a very good Darshan at the temples visited.

With an awesome home food, I went to my room and got lost in my dreams. 

22/12/2013:-

                The final day of the trip, we had a long way to go. After my regular duties at home, which I do each time I visit, I started to Ganesh’s home and was riding as slow as possible.

                It was just because my mom kicked me out of the house before Rahukalam, and I had almost 2 hours to reach 15 kms. I had to start before 12 or had to wait for 90 more minutes. I chose the first option and rode very slowly. I enjoyed as much Coimbatore as possible before stopping to get gifts for GP’s Kid (Ganesh Perumal)

                This time I was the first to reach at GP’s place. His brother had returned from US and he was talking about his tiring journey. When he asked about our trip, we had a longer story to tell. Lunch interrupted our story and it was worth to stop the story for it.

                GP’s brother had brought the much awaited “Go-Pro” which was ordered by Anto especially for this trip. After lunch, we were on the road towards Bangalore. It wasn’t the regular national highway; but the one which took had just few kilometers of thick forest, some broken roads, a hill to climb with just 28 hairpin bends.

We rode through, Annur, Puliambatti and Sathyamangalam. Crossing small towns like these are sometimes tougher. These roads are narrow, without any dividers and with almost all interventions to make slow down. Well that was my reason, but Anto and Abhi were still ahead of me cutting through all these crowds.

 We reached the Dhimbam foot hills, from where the 28 hair pin bends started. We were on or bulls perfectly climbing each of the bends. While fully loaded trucks counted each inches and moved like snails, some cars were passing them very swiftly, honking for the entire forest. We stopped at the 27^th hairpin bend and took few snaps. The view from there was just awesome. We felt as if the whole world was just below us. We selected a bus or truck far away on the first few hairpin bends and saw them hiding in the woods and coming up on the next turn. Time passed like that on that spot and we still had close to 200 kms to cover.

With our bikes roaring again, we over took the slow moving trucks and too fast cars. Anto was losing his mobile’s battery and wanted to reach home as soon as possible.

Abhi and I were together for the rest of the ride stopping after every one hour. Anto was still ahead of us and we tried to chase as much as possible and couldn’t. I was sure that Anto had taken a de-tour somewhere.

We discussed on possible options where he could’ve fallen out of the track. We dropped down to Kollegal from where you need to take a right turn, which was abnormally, silent and dark. Anto should have thought that it was some village road and should have proceeded straight. There was no option to call him because his mobile was already dead. We rode towards Bangalore, and since it was already dark we missed out lot of scenic spots on the way.

We were still on the track and rode towards Bangalore. We even stopped just before touching Bangalore city. There were no signs of him and we decided to wait for him at our place. I was worried, that if had taken that straight road near Kollegal, and he would have taken a longer route to Bangalore. Just about 80 kms longer.

                Around 2130hrs we reached home. My wife took our pictures, because our mobiles were running low on battery. We had a small celebration with few photo sessions and went inside, still waiting for Anto. Almost 30 minutes later, the knock at the door relieved our tensions. It was Anto, as expected he took the road straight from kollegal, however very soon he realized it was a wrong route and came back on track.

                Chicken Kabab was awesome, thanks to my wife for that. We started discussing about the most beautiful things and worst things which happened in the trip. Abhi had to return their rented bike and then go to Anto’s place to stay. It was already late and they decided to leave.

                Before saying bye, I took Abhi’s telephone number, which wasn’t with me all these days. Better late than never.

                “ So Machi, next trip Arunachal rite!!!!!!” Abhi shouted while leaving, I said yes and turned to my wife with a tiny smile….Her face turned red and the rest is censored!!!!!