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.