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…………………!!!!