The Rappa (Hassan)

Anoop recommended The Rappa to Shivanand and Shivanand gave a call to Vijay Das of The Rappa and asked the questions: Is the place available for 3 guys (himself, Hegdo and me) from April 2nd to 4th? Are 3 meals included in the tariff? The answer was positive and we had a place to spend time on a long weekend. Since we were given tents, we knew what things to carry.

I woke up at 3 AM, got ready by 4 AM and headed to Shivanand’s house. His house is 40 km away from mine and driving there wasn’t easy even that early. There was enough traffic on the road and there were enough losers driving on high beams. Yet, I managed to take only 45 minutes through the city to reach his house, where Hegdo had already come over the previous night. Fortunately, Shivanand was almost ready by then (extremely rare!), probably because of the excitement to visit The Rappa.

Within half an hour, we were driving towards NH 4, navigating through the huge trucks. It took a while to reach NH 4 and to hit the toll road. The new toll road is a breeze and we could maintain around 100 kmph throughout the stretch. Of course, we had to slow down some times, thanks to some silly drivers changing lanes without indication.

We missed the exit to NH 48 and reached Tumkur toll gate. Fortunately, I have done the same mistake before, because there is no sign board near the exit to NH 48. May be there is, but it doesn’t say that the exit is for Hassan or Mangalore. If any other place is mentioned, I can easily miss it. Anyway, we managed to take a U turn and hit NH 48. This road has improved a lot over the last few months. The road is broadened at most places and where it isn’t, there are not-so-clear markings (which might be totally invisible at nights) to show that there are single lanes. It was about 6 AM when we were cruising on this road. I had decided not to exceed 100 kmph any time. Even though it was still dark, most vehicles had already switched off their head lights. It was difficult to tell an oncoming vehicle from a vehicle going in our direction, on 2 lane roads. Hence my self-imposed speed-limit (note: I keep my head lights on always on highways, to make sure that others don’t miss me when trees overhang on the road and cast their shadows on the road. And there are enough morons frantically trying to indicate that my head lights are on during broad daylight. At least that guarantees that others can see me).

On the way, I even spotted a Palio taxi. That indeed is a rare sight!!!



The bypass for Kunigal is not yet open, so we had to drive through the bad stretch around Kunigal. We crossed all these small towns and stopped for breakfast at Kamat Upachar close to Hassan, at around 9 am. We entered Hassan to buy some things that Vijay had asked us to get, and then easily found the left turn from NH 48 towards The Rappa. However, just to make sure, we asked the villagers on the way, and everyone seems to know Vijay. We didn’t even have to ask the question. People gave us the directions just as we rolled the windows down!

On the way, after crossing a bridge, we spotted a dilapidated structure that looked like a church. It was on the other side, so we had been close to it while coming, but hadn’t spotted it. As we got closer and closer to the end of the road (that ends at The Rappa) the scenery kept getting better and better. The road wasn’t so great, but the surroundings were picturesque. Shivanand was busy clicking photographs. Like this:

I clicked a photograph too, of Shivanand clicking photographs:

We were welcomed by Vijay and Sibi. Vijay was about to leave for the city to get some supplies, so asked us if we wanted anything. We asked for Pepsi and Fanta. Sibi served us cocum juice and then showed us our tent. There are 4 cottages and 5 tents (I think).


Cottages have attached toilets, but tents have 4 common toilets, which are near the dining area (about 50 steps away from the tents). We couldn’t check out the cottages, but all tents have 2 twin sleeper beds. So each tent can accommodate 4 people easily. However, there are no locks (because they are tents) and so Sibi advised us to leave all expensive things in the car. Why expensive things only? We left everything in the car, and kept only 2 water bottles in the tent.

Then Sibi introduced the dogs to us: Milo (an American retriever), Dadda (an Irish Setter, whose name means lazy in Kannada – true to this character), Tootsie (a young british retriever, about 4 months old, and is very fond of eating other pets) and Shunti (a spitz named so because they wanted a Kannada word for it). He also showed us the rabbits, guinea pig, guinea fowls, turkeys, geese, different breeds of ducks and different breeds of chicken. There was one hen with some 9 newborn chicks.
Milo:

Shunti:


Tootsie:

Dadda:


Other (unnamed) animals:


Sibi also told us that we could go kayaking or swimming, but wearing life jackets is mandatory. Good, because I don’t know swimming. As Shivanand got busy shooting the animals, I took a nap. Shivanand shot me too! I was so tired (having slept only for 2.5 hours after playing football for 2.5 hours the previous evening), so I had fallen asleep on a concrete block, even when the sun shone on my face!

As there was still a lot of time for lunch, we went on a small soft-roading trip over the peninsula, driving over the grass land and through the grazing cows. Shivanand was elated to find a lot of scope for his photographs. I had played football for over 2 hours the previous evening, and had slept only for about a couple of hours. So I slept in the car. Hegdo too slept in the car. Shivanand was accompanied by Shunti. And that bloody SOB Shunti took a piss at one of the tyres of my Palio! Shivanand continued capturing the beauty of the nature, and the hunkness of his friends in his DSLR:

We returned to the dining area, and Vijay had returned by then, and had brought our soft drinks. He kept them in his fridge. Then we had a lunch of okra curry, dal, chapatti, pulav, rice, curd and chicken curry. We found all the curries extra hot, so we poured curd generously over them. Then Vijay took us in his Tempo Trax (an open top SUV) for an off-roading drive. He didn’t care where he was driving. He drove through the bushes, over the rocks, over the grass and through muck, at a constant 40 kmph. All we could do was, cling on to our dear lives by grabbing tightly whatever we could grab. Hegdo got a few scratches on his arm, because of some protruding metal. I got some scratches on my face, because of the tree branches. We had the ride of our lifetime, although it lasted only for less than 15 minutes. We didn’t have the guts to say yes, when he asked if we wanted to go for another trip.

So we returned to the dining area. By then they had moved the TV to dining area and also had connected a projector, to watch the cricket world cup final. The match started soon, and it was boring. After a while, we went on another soft roading trip, exploring another part of the peninsula. We waited till sunset (I again slept in the car, while Shivanand went behind birds asking them to pose for his photographs. Unfortunately, they kept ignoring him. He captured the sunset too). As the sun was setting, we returned, because we didn’t want to risk driving in the dark when there is no road, and road was what we drove on. We had to guess the direction and drive, but it wasn’t difficult. The Palio handles the rocks and soft mud like a true soft roader, not complaining at all.

By the time we reached back, a bunch of young men had gathered to watch the match. Everyone was screaming his lungs out, and these guys were drinking beer like water.. err, no, no one drinks water like that. They were drinking beer like beer. I found the match boring, so I took a nap on my favourite cement block. Then we went near the reservoir to watch others kayaking, peddling the boats and all. The dogs were also there, taking a swim. Dadda is not only lazy, but also dumb. Some people there tried to throw a ball expecting Dadda to fetch it and bring it back. Dadda fetched the ball and ran away and didn’t return. All the dogs are fond of swimming. Except Dadda, the others roll their wet bodies on the slushy mud after swimming. I think that’s their way of treating their skin. No wonder they are all fair. And Dadda is not. Later, we returned to the dining area, and started drinking our Pepsi. We were served some fried fish and chicken. Later, the dinner consisted of a menu similar to lunch, and fish curry in addition. By the time the match was over, these young guys were completely drunk, and were celebrating the victory with crackers and more beer. We were too exhausted to participate in the revel, and went to our tents and fell asleep in no time. I woke up at 6.45 on Sunday morning, to find Shivanand fast asleep and Hegdo awake. We went to the main dining area, had tea and finished the toilet duties. I had no problem, as I was equipped with toilet paper, and other usual bathroom stuff. I just had to clean the toilet before using it. Then Hegdo and I went kayaking. After initial hiccups, it was fun to row the boat, and we were in the water for close to an hour. Because of a large number of guests the previous night, all the water in the well was consumed, so Vijay, Sibi, Rizwan and Ashok were busy connecting pipes and pump to pump water from the reservoir to the well, and then to the other tanks. Shivanand had woken up by 10 or so, and breakfast was ready too. It consisted of bread, butter, jam, dosa, green chutney, potato baji and chicken stew. Chicken stew was excellent and I ate a lot of dosa with that. After breakfast, we headed to the same side of the peninsula where we had been the previous afternoon. This time, we took a full circle around the jungle. Soft-roading through the rocks and sand. Shivanand went after some birds and cows, to shoot them (in his camera). I felt some pressure in the stomach, so I went into the jungle, dug a hole and did it and then closed the hole. I believe in “leave no trace”, at least to what eyes can hear and ears can smell and nose can see. All our things were in the car, and we had left nothing in the tent. So I didn’t have a problem in unloading myself. We returned to the dining area by afternoon. Although I had planned not to take a shower, I did. Even Hegdo and Shivanand did. Then we sat chatting with Vijay, who had already begun emptying his Old Monk bottles, and then had lunch. We wanted to drink our Fanta, but we found that someone had already stolen it. Vijay said he cannot guarantee that our soft drinks will not be taken away by others, because there is only one fridge, and everyone has access to it. Then we headed to the same area where we had been the previous evening to capture sunset. This time we went exploring further, and found that the car couldn’t go any further, as we were blocked a long area of rocks on one side and shrubs on the other. Hegdo and I took a nap while Shivanand went after some kingfishers. We kept the doors open, so that maximum air would come into the car, and we didn’t need anything else to fall asleep.

When I woke up, Shiva was not to be seen. After looking around, I found him still clicking photographs. Now that I was fresh, we decided to get over the obstacles and drove through the shrubs giving numerous scratches and small dents to my beloved Palio, but I am sure she won’t mind it. But then we came across fields and they were at different heights (in step fashion). Without a 4X4 SUV, we couldn’t go any further, so we decided to return. It was just about 5 or so, and we didn’t want to wait till actual sunset, so we told Shiva to finish his sunset photographs right then, and he did.

Then we returned to the camp site, and Vijay and his Old Monk joined us. And then an untoward incident happened. There were a bunch of guests who had come in the afternoon and had spent time till evening near the reservoir, and now they wanted drinking water. But because Vijay and his men were busy all morning pumping water, and then cooking for us, they had found time only a while earlier to go to the city to get the cans of drinking water. So Vijay requested them to wait. They insisted on having water right now, so it looked like Vijay would give them the 1 litre Bisleri bottles which he gives to the guests when they arrive. But then this group started complaining about other things, such as spiders in the tents, no soap etc. that blew Vijay’s lid and he used some harsh words. So one of the guests said they would rather vacate than stay here and asked how much they owed. That was it. Vijay just told them to pay full, get their stuff and get out. They argued that they were there only for a few hours, but Vijay wouldn’t listen. Finally they paid in full and left the premises.

We spent the rest of the evening chatting with Vijay and Sibi and sharing some funny stories. A bunch of other guys too joined us, and we were served some starters by Rizwan. One of the other guests, Rohit, gave Shivanand some gyan about photography. In fact, he even asked Shiva to try out his bigger lens. And Shiva was excited to use it to click photos of Dadda.

After dinner, Vijay took some of the guests for a night off-roading drive. These guests wore life jackets, probably to protect themselves, as they were not going to go anywhere near water. Once they were back, Vijay said someone was screaming and asking him to slow down because they are newly married. Later, we went to sleep in the tent. The day wasn’t as tiring as the previous one, so I woke up once in the night and found Shunti sleeping in our tent.

Next morning, again Hegdo and I were up early, so we finished our morning duties (except bath) and headed into the peninsula again. This time, Vijay too joined us. We stopped for photography only once, when we found a hip bone of a cow. Then Vijay expressed his desire to acquire a Palio. I guess I will have to find him one.

Vijay insisted that we stay for lunch, although it not in our package. He said he himself was going to cook pork for us. So we stayed back, and because we had nothing else to do, we decided to visit a nearby church. The holy rosary church. This church is open for normal visitors only during summer months. During monsoons or winter, only skilled divers can visit this church. For the church is almost submerged in the Hemavathy reservoir during these seasons.


The church can collapse any moment, so hurry up if you wish to see it. But don’t be too disheartened when you read the scribbles of the idiots of our country. People have scuplted their and their lovers’ names all over the walls. It looks UGLY. And then, we remembered that we are yet to have a photograph with all 3 of us in it. So we managed to keep the camera on the car, supported by a small rock, and got this:

Then we returned, and spent more time chatting with them and listening to their stories of how the whole place was destroyed in fire, and how they are rebuilding it. They also showed us the brick machines they are using. They are not using any skilled labourers. They themselves are doing all the work. Considering that what they charge us is not a big amount, I guess they have to resort to such cost-cutting measures to get the place back to its former beauty!

After lunch, we wanted to leave, but Vijay and Sibi insisted that we stay longer. We wanted to tip the guys who work there, and these guys were playing cricket near the reservoir. Vijay offered me his Tempo Trax to drive till there. It is an old vehicle, and rattles a lot. To start it, I need to keep a button pressed to heat up a coil (which in my Palio, heats up automatically) and I need to turn on the ignition without getting my hand off that button. Brakes need to be pressed real hard, and gear shifts are hard. Absence of power steering means extra work to the shoulders. But once the vehicle picks up some speed, it is awesome to drive it. The driving position is amazing, and I could take zigzag turns without the fear of toppling. I didn’t drive as fast as Vijay did, because I wasn’t familiar with the vehicle.

Finally, we left at around 4. When I sat in Palio, the clutch and the brakes and the steering seemed like butter to me. So soft, so smooth. The junk Tempo Trax was more fun to drive. But no complaints about my Palio. She is sturdy, safe and can go fast and yet give an amazing fuel economy figure. We didn’t stop anywhere on the way, and reached Hebbal within three and a half hours. The trip meter read 508 km, which was the total distance we had travelled. Out of that, around 40 km was from my house to Shivanand’s, and from there to The Rappa was about 210 km, and off-roading and roaming around The Rappa was about 50 km and back to Shivanand’s house was the last 210 km. and guess what was the fuel economy figure? 22 kmpl. Because I had kept the speeds at constant 80 to 100 kmph on highway, I am sure the economy there was 24+ kmpl, and highway travel was about 300 km in total. It was balanced by rough driving on the interior roads and off-roading.

PUG (Palio Users Group) Meet

It had to be just Finney and me from Bangalore. My 2 friends Rachana and Ashith (both married, and the best part is, to each other) accompanied me in my car. We decided to meet up with Finney at Attibele, which is at the border of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, because it is close to where to I stay. We 3 started from my house in my Palio Multijet and Finney met us near the toll booth at the Attibele in his Palio 1.2 NV.

Till Hosur, the road was full of trucks, but once I crossed it, it was easy to cruise at 80 KMPH. Finney was cruising at around 100 KMPH, so he went much ahead of us. I still don’t confident to go too much above 80 KMPH in IndiaL. Later we stopped for breakfast at Adyar Anand Bhavan, and then continued towards our destination, Yercaud. We crossed Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri and reached Salem, crossing many toll booths on the way. The roads are maintained well. They are painted well and have no potholes. There are flower plants along the median which increase the beauty of the road, and also block the high beams of irresponsible motorists. But at one stretch, the road is somewhat winding and goes downhill, so there are 8 speed-breakers. This stretch is tricky. Due to daytime heat, the asphalt melts and when huge trucks go over these roads, the melted asphalt shifts towards the lane dividers and so the road is uneven. At the speed-breakers, the road is worse!

But the biggest problem all along was the villagers who don’t understand the difference between a village road and a highway. Some of them drive their motorbikes on the rightmost lane. Some of them drive their motorbikes on the rightmost lane, in the OPPOSITE direction! And of course, some stray dogs here and there also test your driving skills. And then there are tractors whose birthright it is to drive only in the rightmost lane.

After catching up with Finney at Salem, we continued towards Yercaud. The road is uphill and winding. There are 20 hairpin bends. At the bottom of the hill, Finney offered me his car. Ashith drove mine. It was fun to drive the car on hairpin bends. There is no question about the ride and handling of European cars. They drive so beautifully. Having never driven a petrol car on an uphill road, I understood the difference between petrol and diesel. I don’t mean the engine, but the fuel itself. Diesel being much denser, gives a much higher torque. So a diesel car goes uphill without struggling too much. But not a car with petrol engine L. Perhaps a petrol car would also go easily, if the engine is much bigger. But our silly government rules ask for high taxes for cars with more than 1.2 litre petrol engines L.

It was easy to find Star Holiday Resorts, where I had booked rooms for us. We reached there at 2.30 PM. After freshening up, we went for lunch to Shevaroy hotel. This is apparently the best place to stay in or dine at Yercaud. Unfortunately, it was fully booked for the weekend, so I hadn’t got rooms there for us. We had an Indian lunch at the Silver Oak restaurant there and went back to our hotel. Mahesh Natarajan too arrived at the same time with his family in his GTX.

Then we all went to the Yercaud lake. Rachana had already grown fondness to MN’s children (son Uttam Kumar, and daughter Sri Meenakshi), so the children went with Rachana and Ashith in their boat. We went in another boat. By the time we were out of the lake, it was dark already. We also met up with Srinivas PS and his friend Alex, who had driven from Chennai in Srinivas’s 1.2 NV. They were also staying in Star Holidays, and were there since noon, and we had no clue!

We also met Thyagarajan and his family who had come to Yercaud from Chennai in his MJD (and also a Swift Dzire). We decided to meet up the next morning at 8.30 at the same place and we went our ways. Finney joined MN and family for dinner. We went back to the hotel. I had brought some beer in a Styrofoam box from Bangalore and it was still ice cold. As we had no more drives until the next day, we could have some beer to chill out. No drinking and driving, but always driving and then drinking ;-).

So Rachana, Ashith, Srinivas, Alex and I sat in Ashith’s room and shared a lot of stories. Later Finney too joined us for more stories. We probably spent 3 hours just chatting like that! And then we all headed to our rooms for a good night’s sleep. There were power cuts in between, but luckily the hotel provided backup power.

On Sunday morning, MN knocked on our doors exactly at 8.30 AM. By 9, we checked out of the hotel and went for breakfast to a vegetarian restaurant in Shevaroy. Thyagarajan and his family too joined us there. And also a couple of guys in a grey MJD. I forgot their names L.

It was raining all the time, in contrast to the bright Saturday. Yet, we went to Rose Garden and Ladies’ Seat. By this time, the guys in grey MJD had already left.

By the time we reached our next destination, Kiliyur Falls, it was not raining much. We had a Palio photo session there. We didn’t go till the falls, because of the slushy pathway and slippery rocks. From here, we went to the Shervaroyan temple, which is at a higher point. We had drive through the clouds and that was beautiful experience. It was cold but not enough to chill us. We parked our cars near the temple and some of us visited the temple.

This was our last point of visit, so we said goodbyes to each other. As told to us by Finney later, he sat in his car and wondered that nothing out-of-the-ordinary had happened. And within moments, MN and he reversed their cars together and that gave a broken tail lamp and a dislocated rear bumper to Finney’s NV and a dented door and a broker right rear view mirror to MN’s GTX L.

Then we went for lunch at Shevaroy. Few of us went to the non-vegetarian restaurant and a few us to the vegetarian one. After lunch, we met up at the lake again. MN gave us DVD copies of his recordings of his Leh trip at the beginning of the year. Then we said goodbye to each other and departed to our respective home locations.

FIFA World Cup matches that I watched in stadiums

1. Brazil vs Ivory Coast - I got a seat directly opposite the camera that records the match and telecasts to you all. The Soccer City stadium is HUGE. It can seat 90,000 people! So it has quite a big number of rows and my row was 3rd from the last. This gave me a panoramic view of the stadium. The drawback of this is, it is hard to recognize any player. I was surrounded by thousands of Brazilian fans. Believe me, Brazilian girls look hotter than they look on TV or photos!!

And I could see how dirty the Brazil team plays (apologies to Brazil fans). Whenever there was an attack by Ivory Coast with more strikers than the Brazilian defenders, the defenders would simply fake an injury. Sometimes the referee would signal to continue play because the Ivory Coast striker wouldn’t be at fault. That’s when the Brazilian would not get up and pretend as if he is hurt. Then other Brazilians would stop playing and point the fallen guy to the referee. Now Ivory Coast has no option but to stop their attack and kick the ball out.

Sometimes, the Ivory Coast guys would get distracted and stop. Then a Brazilian defender would sneak in and take the ball in his control. Then the fallen defender would suddenly come back to life and the game would resume with Brazil attacking!!!

This happened so many times that it was frustrating to watch. I was happy to see Kaka sent off (although I didn’t know why, because the ball was elsewhere and you tend to watch where the ball is, and Kaka's so called foul took place elsewhere on the field). Later I found out that it wasn't entirely Kaka's fault. Yet, Brazil got a taste of their own medicine. But it was already late. Brazil needs an opposition that can give them this treatment right from the beginning.

And the sound of vuvuzelas isn't a problem in the stadium at all. When you hear the sound on TV, it is monotonous buzzing sound (like a bee's buzz). But in the stadium, the frequency and amplitude keeps varying. Frequency variation because of different sizes/shapes of vuvuzelas and amplitude variation depending on how far from you a vuvuzela is being blown.

Also, there was only one Mexican wave. It had 3 iterations before it died down. The problem with it was, the seats would fold back the moment you got up, so you have to turn yourself after the wave passes you and open the seat again.

My seat was between two old men and they were boring. Luckily there was one empty seat next to my one German colleague, so i joined him. Most people didn’t bother to sit and they stood on the aisles, so there were many empty seats.

The travel arrangements to the stadium are excellent. There is no car parking in the stadium. But there are many options: one option is to take one of those special buses to the stadium directly from certain points in the city. They drop you to one common point called west gate (common between Ellis Park and soccer city stadiums of Johannesburg). From there are dedicated buses to the stadium. Costs 50 Rands per person.

Another option is to park and ride. There are some places within 5 km radius of each stadium and you can park your car there and take a bus. This is cheaper, costing 50 Rands a car. So if you are 5 people, it is just 10 rands per person. But driving to park and ride facilities is a pain. It is bumper to bumper traffic everywhere and the jam even affects the motorways.

For this match, we (my 3 German colleagues and me) took the first option. But while coming back, the bus went through the city roads and not on the motorway, as it had to drop people. The match got over at 10.15 pm and we reached our hotel at 12.15 am!!

2. Spain vs Honduras: this was in Ellis park stadium. An old stadium and much smaller (60k capacity). Fortunately, my seat was on the 14th row from the arena, and again directly opposite the camera. And exactly on the midfield line. This means, I am sure I came on TV. But u sure can't spot me when i am surrounded by Spanish fans and a few Honduran fans here and there.

It was a do or die match for both teams, but Honduras hardly gave any fight. The players' body language showed that they had given up hope already.

On my left were a few oriental men and they just sat there and watched. But on my right were a few Spanish men who didn’t seem to speak English. And the guy sitting next to me would scream 'ole' every now and then in different tones. The tone varied depending on whether he was happy, angry, sad, delighted and all, but the word remained the same.

When Spain got a penalty, everyone stood up and an old lady behind me tapped on my shoulder and told me to sit down so that she could sit and watch. I told her to stand up, because people in front of me were standing and I didn’t want to miss the penalty kick.

But David Villa missed it. After scoring 2 field goals, he could easily have converted this and had a hat trick against his name. Dumb guy!

For this match, I had to go alone, because my German colleagues' boss had plans to take them and he had no place in his car. I opted for the park and ride option, so I had to go back to my hotel to collect the parking entry ticket (it is a silly thing, to buy the ticket online, and go to their shop and actually receive the ticket and their closest shop was near my hotel). While leaving from the hotel, I met another guest, a Spaniard looking for a ride. He joined me, and we left from my hotel at 4.45 pm. by the time we parked the car, took the bus and reached the stadium, it was 7.30 pm. and the stadium is just 9 km away from the hotel!!!

The return trip was easy. It took only an hour to exit the stadium and drive and reach the hotel.

3. Ghana vs Germany: This time I took the option of park and ride, and parked the car in a place called Gold Reef city. It is a mall with casino and Fun Park and all, and is built over an abandoned gold mine. It is in a place called Soweto (short for South Western Township, as it lies in the south west of Jo’burg).

I left from office at 4.45, changed my clothes from business formals to sportswear in the car and it took me an hour and 45 minutes to go to gold reef city that is 3 km away from office!!!

And from Gold Reef City to soccer city stadium, another half an hour. So I was at the stadium more than an hour before the proceedings could begin. The food, drinks and beer at the stadiums are expensive. Coke costs 15R, sandwiches cost 30R and Budweiser beer costs 30R. A rand is 6 Rs. For the lifestyle and economy here, perhaps a multiplication factor of 3 seems good. That is, multiply any rand value by 3 and see if the price makes sense in rupees, go for it. Well, to me, Budweiser didn't make sense at 90 Rs. I would rather pay 15R for sparkling water which tastes the same!!

There is nothing much to say about the match. The match began in a lame way and continued in that fashion and ended in that fashion. It seemed like both teams were looking for a draw. There were hardly any fouls. Germans play clean and Ghanaians are strong men who don't give a crap for small or medium injuries and continue their play as if nothing happened.

There were probably six or seven fouls in the whole match. And yet, one player from each team did receive yellow cards. I am sure the referee was bored, that's why he gave those yellow cards.

My one observation about the way the Germans play. Whenever there are a few defenders and one defender is controlling the ball and is attacked by opposition, he immediately passes the ball to the goalie. As no attacker can go close to the goalie (because he is the last in line, and any pass to the attacker by his teammate results in off side), the ball remains in Germany’s possession. But there was one close call for Manuel Bauer when a pass to him almost resulted in a Ghana striker stealing the ball. Luckily, Manuel managed to clear it before there was any risk.

And it didn’t seem like any German or Ghanaian played to their potential. The Ghana striker Gyan had to be replaced. German mid fielder Schweinsteiger (funny name, I think it means someone who jumps over a pig) also had to be replaced.

4. Brazil vs Chile (pre-QF): A friend of mine gave me a call and said he'll buy tickets. I didn't ask him which countries would be playing :-D

Somehow, Brazil seemed to play a much fairer game. There were very few drama incidents, and also the referee seemed to know Brazil's tactics, so he chose to ignore the fallen drama queens writhing in pain.

Yet, Brazil won the match. So, they can still win without cheating!!

The night was colder than usual. I had worn an extra t shirt than usual. So, even with 3 t shirts and a sports jacket, it was quite chilling. My seat was close to an open area from where wind blew into the stadium.

I borrowed a vuvuzela from the friend who bought my ticket. I am really proud of my lungs. I had blown about 25 balloons while 3 other guys could manage another 25. That was to welcome the newlywed friends to their house.

Well, I could blow the vuvuzela throughout the match. The guys around me (quite a few Brazilian fans) had given up already.

I will next try to inflate a car tyre.. HAHAHAHAHAHA..

Kalahari

I had to change to a different hotel that weekend, and I thought, why not save some money of Standard Bank? Why not check out from the current hotel on Friday and not check into the other hotel not until Sunday? So where am I going to spend the weekend? How about Kalahari? There is a colleague (Arindam) who is ready to join me. So be the plan.
Fine Friday morning. I check out from the hotel and move all my stuff into the car and head to office. After a series of meetings, Arindam and I start for the city of Upington (on the edge of Kalahari desert, but on the shores of Orange river). The GPS shows an arrival time of 2 AM for 796 km. But no toll roads for the whole stretch. That’s not a good sign. The roads could be bad. Let’s find out!
After taking a few motorways and exits, we reach N14, which goes from Johannesburg to I don’t know where. But I know that it goes through Kalahari green area (the southernmost part of Kalahari where there is lot of vegetation, thanks to Orange river). The road is a 2 lane road just like our Indian highways, but is very well marked with no-ovetake zones and turns indicated clearly. Moreover, the speed limit is 120 kmph and where you need to reduce speed (at curves, or when the road goes through towns), there are too many road signs that you can’t miss. And no road bumps, obviously.
But within a few tens of kilometers, we were greeted with a signal. The next 5 km were one-way, as one part of the road was still being built. While cars and HUGE trucks waited on one side, workers from the other side would let the other side traffic to go through. It was well managed. But the arrival time shown in the GPS was only increasing. And it was getting dark too.
After 5 such stretches, we were literally flying (cruising at 180 kmph). The road had sparse traffic, and I was sure that there would be no cops, as it was quite dark already. After a short stop for loading the car tank and emptying our tanks, we continued through the straight roads. We could see head lamps of vehicles from far, and by the time we would pass that vehicle, at least 10 minutes would have passed. If I consider my speed as 150 kmph and the opposite cars as 100 kmph (I am sure I am underestimating here), the relative speed of 250 kmph would take me 10 minutes to cross the car. So you can imagine how straight the road is. And the road got only straighter, as we approached our destination. Thanks to constant overspeeding, we realized that we would reach our destination by 11 PM. And the car was quite stable at around 170 kmph. The only problem was of having to stop for refueling frequently.
When we were cruising at about 175 kmph near a town called Kuruman, a Mercedes Benz C class simply overtook us and disappeared. It was the first car to overtake us when we were driving (not counting the times when we slowed down to look around for fuel stations). We tried to catch up with him, but could not. At Kuruman, he went straight while we had to take a turn. So he won :-D.
Arindam had booked a room in Upington and when we reached the place, I really liked it. The lady greeted us warmly and showed us the room. It was SHOCKING! A beautiful room with a small kitchen and an attached bathroom. And PINK ROSE PETALS SPREAD ON THE BED. WHAT THE ****!!!! Because Arindam had just told her “two adults” she had assumed a couple would be visiting them. And thank heavens, there was a single bed besides the decorated double bed, and I immediately went and sat on it, to show her that we aren’t what she thought we are :-D
We didn’t wait for long to hit the beds, and next thing I remember is checking the time. it was 7 AM. It was very cold in the morning. After freshening up quickly, we had the breakfast that the lady served us. It was quite delicious. Bacon, fried eggs, toast, butter, jam, mushrooms, cheese and orange juice. Bed and breakfast for 360 Rands for two. Quite inexpensive.
We started the car soon after breakfast and discovered that the GPS wasn’t programmed to take us to our next destination, Twee Rivieren (two rivers in Afrikaans). That is the entrance to Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park which spans across South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
The landlady offered us to guide us to the road from Upington. There are a lot of intersections and she said we would not be able to figure out without her help. She drove for about 5 km in front of us and got us to the road we had to take. After thanking her, we started the next leg of our road trip, through the Kalahari desert. Now we could see the beauty of the desert. Hardly any trees, but a lot of dry grass on both sides of the road. Some shrubs here and there. Once in a while, a lone tree. And some small windmills. I am not very sure why they are there. It was exactly like the way you see it in the film “The Gods Must Be Crazy”. The sky was clear, without a hint of a cloud. The weather was pleasant. There were birds on the road, feasting on the flesh of the small animals killed by speeding vehicles. And one of those birds hit my windshield and crapped a truckload on it. As I was doing 160 kmph easily, I don’t think the bird survived. Fortunately, the windshield took the impact without cracking. I was careful enough to look for animals on the road and managed to escape without their blood on my hands all the time. But the birds weren’t so fortunate. I saw another bird just coming swooping towards my car from the left and then I didn’t see it. I would see it only a day later. You will read about it when I reach that section.
The fuel level was going down and there was no village in sight. When the fuel level had reached the red mark, we came across a village called Askham. When we took the turn, we were greeted with a rough road. After some 300 meters, there was sand and no road. Luckily it wasn’t for a long stretch and then there was asphalt road. There were kids playing on the road wearing South African national football team’s uniforms. Even in the remotest of the South African villages, there still was so much spirit in them!
From the Kgalagadi entrance in Twee Rivieren, we could either drive to Namibia or Botswana (by taking necessary permits) or just roam around the park for a few hours. We chose to drive around the park. The roads we went on had some vegetation and some small ponds of water. There were wildebeests, bisons and springboks. But no predators. After driving for a while, we got bored, and decided to get out of the park. Arindam was driving during this time. Unfortunately, we drove over a small rock that bent the wheel rim enough to drain the air from the tubeless tyre. We drove it with a punctured tyre on the mud road for some 20 km to the park entry point and got it fixed by the mechanic there. And we had beer while he did his work. People there wondered what made us drive the car all the way with a punctured tyre and damage it. I had one reply to them all, “rented car”.
Our next destination was a falls called Augrabies. This place is actually some 150 km from Twee Rivieren. But this shortest route is through Namibia. We had to come down south all the way to Upington (250 km) and then go west for another 100 km. We took nearly 3 hours to cover this distance, including a long break. Here Arindam had booked a room for us in a hotel. This place was nice too, and had a pub and a restaurant.
I hit the pub the moment we landed there, and soon Arindam too joined me. By the time we left the pub at 10.30 or so, I had downed six beers, two shots of Jägermeister and a bunch of snails in butter and garlic. There was only one bed in the room, so I slept on the sofa. Bad idea, because I had no blanket, and it was quite cold. I woke up somewhere in the middle of the night with a splitting headache. So I slept on the bed. It was quite comforting, but I didn’t get sleep for a quite a while, thanks to the headache.
The headache hadn’t gone down even a bit till morning. I tried drinking black tea and that prompted all my stomach contents to come out. I felt much better and we headed to the restaurant for breakfast. Half way through the breakfast, I had to barf again :-D. Then we checked out of the hotel and headed to Augrabies Falls and National Park. At the entrance there, the guard stopped the car, bent in front of it, and removed some feathers from the car’s grille. Then he removed the whole dead bird.
At the falls, I had to pay 88 rands to enter because I am here on business visa. Arindam had to pay only 22, as he is on work permit. But it is better than India where all foreigners are charged in dollars.
The falls was beautiful. Somewhat like Mekedatu near Bangalore, but well maintained. There were a lot of rabbit like animals called dassies around, basking in the sun. They are so lucky. They do nothing but eat the grass, crap, bask and sometimes mate. Some unlucky ones end up as food for eagles though.
After Augrabies, it was time to head to Johannesburg. My headache hadn’t gone yet, so I had some orange juice there and we left from Augrabies at 11.10 am. The arrival time showed by the GPS was 11 PM for a distance of 916 km. We continued at moderate speeds up to Upington, because it was broad daylight, and there could be cops (Upington seemed like a well developed city). After Upington, we continued our journey through the desert, overspeeding all the time. On the way, some oncoming vehicles blinked their head lights. Although my headlights are always switched on when I drive, it was unlikely that it was bothering them. So there is only one explanation, they are warning me of something hideous waiting for us on the way. What could that be? A speed trap, obviously. So we drove at just about 120 to 125 kmph and after some 30 km, we found a cop hiding under a tree with a speed gun. He had hid his BMW quite well behind the bushes. First of all it is so hard to find a bush around there, and it is nearly impossible to find a bush to hide the car and a tree for his own shade, and yet the cop had managed. And he was at least 30 km away from any nearest town!
After the cop disappeared in my rear view mirrors, it was time to fly again. And on the way, we saw a Volvo S80 pulling onto the road. After a while, he overtook us and he probably was doing 180 kmph. My blood boiled. Damn, just the 2nd guy to overtake me and that too in a car that’s at least twice as powerful as mine. Who cares? I started trailing him. Obviously, I didn’t go closer to him than 200 meters, so I could not see where he was headed to (a clue from his car registration) or the engine he had in his car. And then all of a sudden, two cops appeared in from of him and stopped him. Whew, missed by a whisker. They didn’t bother to stop me, and I braked hard to get below 120 kmph and continued we continued our journey. And after a while, the same Volvo guy overtook us again. But this time I didn’t try to provoke him. But he ran out of luck in a different way this time. He had to stop at a signal at road work, and behind him were a Tata Indica, then a big truck and then me. He surely was frustrated because he came out of the car, looked around, spoke to the workers and came and sat in the car. The moment the signal opened, he overtook the cars in front of him by going over the under-construction side of the road and disappeared. I didn’t bother to chase him, although I did go on the under-construction road to overtake the truck in front of me. These trucks are so irritating. They slowly cruise on the road (at around 100 to 120 kmph) and block all vehicles.
At the next signal, it was green when I reached and so I could continue without stopping. And there was the Volvo guy in front of us. He probably was stuck at that signal for a while. And he would not give up overspeeding. I didn’t bother much to trail him. But the road went through a town and he had to slow down, and so did I. the last I saw him was when he pulled into a fuel station.
As we went further, cops stopped us and told me that I was doing 135 kmph in 80 kmph zone. That’s quite unlikely because when I saw the 80 kmph sign, I had slowed down to 100 kmph. He had no proof because what was being shown in the radar was the speed of the car behind us (which was also overspeeding). But he said we have to pay a fine and all that. Saw my passport, and asked how much a fine of 1000 rands would be in rupees. I said 6000 Rs. He himself said that is huge, and asked where I work here and all. When I said Standard Bank, he told me to drive carefully and let me go. Whew! This is the second time a cop was letting me go without having to pay up. I guess I won’t be lucky next time.
We never saw the Volvo again. It was unlikely that he took a different route, because there weren’t any. May be he passed us by when we were speaking to the cop. If that happened, I am sure he had the last laugh.
We entered Johannesburg at around 8, and reached Arindam’s house at 9. After dropping him, I went to my new hotel, checked in, and hit the bed by 10. The distance of about 2200 km in 2.5 days had really drained me. I still am drained, and it is Monday afternoon already.
And most of the South Africans here who I tell about my weekend, tell me that they have never been to wherever I went!!!!

Johannesburg to Durban and back, within a day

Saturday morning. I wake up at 5.30 and pack my stuff to go to Durban, stay for a day and return on Sunday evening. After breakfast, and some delays, I finally leave the hotel at 7. My GPS says I have to travel 583 km and I would reach at 12.51 pm. So I start. Just about half a km later, I see a police car and an ambulance, and dead man by the side of the road. Seems like a murder. A bad way to start a trip.
After taking different motorways, I reach N3. That’s the motorway from Johannesburg to Durban. Straight 500+ kms. Time to put my Polo (Mk IV, 1.4 petrol, 85 PS) to the test. I keep pushing the limits. On some toll roads, I even hit 180 kmph. I feel proud when BMWs and Mercs switch on their indicators and move to the left lane to give me way. Muahahahaha.
The car can cruise easily at around 170 kmph, but after that, it is a bit difficult to control. So I start cruising at about 160 kmph. And then, the dreaded moment. A cop signals me to stop. Damn.. Caught! No wonder these powerful cars were giving me way. They were just sending on the path of Hell!!!
The cop tells me that I was doing 147 kmph in 120 kmph zone, so I should pay 800 Rand fine. I try to act innocent, saying I am new to the country, and this is my first drive outside Johannesburg and I badly want to pee. And I ask her if she can reduce the fine. She keeps asking me how much I wanna pay. I say I don’t know how things work in South Africa, so she should tell me. Finally she says, “ok, give me 200”. I open my wallet, and there are some 300R. I say, “how about 50?”. Typical Indian bargaining. I think that pisses her off. She says, “that’s ok. Go. Drive safe”. I say, “this 50?”. She says, “no, that’s ok”.. whew!! I saved a big amount!
After that I keep cruising at 120 – 125 kmph when I have no company on the road. But when there are many other speeding vehicles, I try to keep up with them. First I find 2 BMW X5s. One of them gives me company all the way. For a while I lead and he trails me. After a while, he leads and I trail. Constantly doing 140 to 150 kmph. Luckily, no cops after that. I don’t know about automatic cameras. But in a country where theft is very common, I don’t think cops would risk planting such a camera!
And then I stop to reload the car’s tank and unload my tank. Time is 9.30 am. I have come only about 250 km. I now have lost the company of the X5. But now the scenery is getting better. Drakenberg mountains. I am so close to the border of Lesotho, and yet I can’t go. I see the mountains from far. So beautiful! The mountain that I am driving on, hardly has any vegetation, other than the elephant grass. The grass is brown and you can spot an occasional bush or a tree. Typical African savannah they show in national geographic. But drakenberg mountains are different. They are either rocky, or are full of flora.
As I continue, I get another company. A GTI. So two VWs racing. Well, not really racing. But trying to confuse the cops ;-). Now I am getting closer to Durban. The air is getting warmer. And now I have just about 5 km to reach the first place I want to visit, Ushaka Marine World. So I switch on the left indicator, and expect the guy behind to give me way. Stupid mistake. Because that is a city taxi (kinda car pooling taxi, used only by low income people. Usually full of people). I hear a thud and left mirror has turned inwards. That guy swerves left and right and then comes to a halt. I too stop the car by the road side. And then 3 black guys come rushing to my car. And start demanding money and my license. I tell them that I have no license, and I am driving illegally, so I tell them to call cops and that I’d surrender. I don’t get out of the car and I don’t get the window down more than an inch. So they really can’t do anything. After some abuses, they leave. Once their vehicle disappears, I come out and see. Whew!!! No damage to my car at all!
Then I go to the marine world. I didn’t expect it to be an amusement park. There are different water rides and all. Ha! Why would I want to do all that alone? So I roam around a mall there, and take a walk on the beach, and eat some Pasta and drink Peroni (Italian beer) at an Italian restaurant, and go to my next destination, Anstey’s beach. This place is a bit far from the other popular places, so no crowd. The weather is extremely pleasing. And the beach is beautiful too. About 30 feet sand on the shore that gradually goes up. And then some 15 feet of lawn. Then road. On the other side of the road, row houses. Beautiful beach houses. And the temperature is just about 15 degree C, and the breeze is chilling. I stand there for some 10 minutes, staring at the sea. Then I feel cold, so I sit in the car. The time now is about 3.15 pm. And I fall asleep. When I wake up, it is 4. The sun has almost gone down, but still not many people at the beach. So I go out and stand. I stand there for an hour, without even realizing it! When I see the time is 5, and still there are very few people, I decide to go. Go where? One option is to find a hotel to stay, and come to the beach again next day. Nah! Why spend on a hotel? I already had spent 160R on the toll (which meant another 160R while going back). Let me go back to my hotel, to Johannesburg!
So I leave from Anstey. My car’s windshield is hazy. The car’s wipers can’t clean it. They only make it worse. I hope that the haze disappears as I go on, so I continue. By the time I hit N3, it is 6 pm and is totally dark. And my windshield is still hazy. I can only see the tail lights of the vehicles behind me. And some vehicles don’t even have functioning tail lights. This is recipe for disaster and I am not on a suicide mission. I have to find a petrol bunk now. I need to take a leak too. I see a few petrol bunks by the motorway, but by the time I see them, I have already crossed the exit. I am getting more and more irritated, so I simply take an exit into some town and drive around. No petrol bunks. Heck! Then it strikes me. OH! GPS can show me petrol bunks! I find one, and get all the things done, and get back on the motorway.
I am convinced that the cops here don’t have night radars to track overspeeding vehicles. So I keep a constant speed of 140 to 160 kmph. As a toll booth approaches, I forget to slow down. And there is a lightning. Oh, no. that’ wasn’t lightning. That was a camera flash. Someone took my photo. Hehehe. So there are automated cameras, at least near toll booths (where there always are people). I want to get hold of that photo. That is my only photo from this trip!
Then I see a crashed city taxi. This one seems to have toppled multiple times. It is totally damaged and is being loaded into a tow truck. There are a few ambulances, which means there were many people inside.
Then I stop for dinner near Drakenburg. I walk out of the car wearing my t shirt. All the people there are wearing sweaters, mufflers and all. It is very cold. Like a big shot, I walk into the restaurant, and place my order. Now I realize how cold it is. I start to shiver. Still, I wait till my food comes (grilled prawns and rice), eat and then leave.
The moment I get in the car, I switch on the heater and wait till I am warm again, before I even move the car. After that, I drive non-stop and reach my hotel at 11. I had travelled 1195 km in less than 16 hours, and yet I had so much energy left within me. so, I start writing this travelogue within a few minutes of reaching my room…

The Plight On A Friday Night

Here is how I describe my most adventurous trip to my hometown so far...

Some time around 8th May (Friday), Raghu mailed a few of us asking our opinion about travelling by train to Mangalore, to attend Pradeep's brother's wedding. Himself, Shiv and I confirmed. But he did not book the tickets until Tuesday, 3 days before the scheduled date of travel (it was because his internet connection had a problem, but let me blame him for everything ;-) ). A day before the trip, he cancelled his ticket, and so only Shiv and I were to travel together.
And the day came. I took a ride from my office to Marathahalli in a Vajra (Volvo city bus) bus, and from there to Wind Tunnel Road in another. Wind Tunnel road is where Shiv's office is, and the conductor did not know this place. I had trouble in explaining where this place is, until another passenger interrupted and told the conductor that it is near Total mall.
Fine, I waited for Shiv there, who came quickly (strange!!!), and we took another Vajra to Majestic. We reached there at 7.30 PM, and as we had another hour and a half for the train to arrive, we took a stroll on the busy streets of Majestic, and hopped into a shoddy pub. After sharing a pitcher of beer along with tasty chilly chicken, we bought some food from KFC and headed to the train station. We checked there and realised that our tickets weren't confirmed. Still, we decided to go to the platform 9, where the train would arrive. I called up Raghu on the way, and he told us that our tickets weren't confirmed, but we should try talking to the TC, who would try to give us some place in the train.
When we reached platform 9, there was no TC. We finished our KFC food (and realised that the KFC guy had cheated us, packing only 4 pieces of chicken, instead of 6), and waited for the train to arrive. The train arrived, along with that, the TC too. We asked the TC, and initially he said he can't do anything. When we met him again, he suggested that we board the car S3. We weren't sure, so we thought of going to KSRTC bus stop and taking a bus to Mangalore. I spoke to Raghu again, to check whether he'd get the money back for our 2 tickets, and he suggested that we should take TC's advice and board S3 because if TC has advised so, he can surely get us seats.
We jumped into that car just as the train started moving, and stood at the door for a while. After half an hour, the TC came, and told us to sit in 2 adjacent seats. Good, we had seats, that too together. Super…. We played Rummy for the next hour or so, initially Shiv having the upper hand, and later me. I guess the final score was 183 - 115, mine being lower. Just as we finished what would be our last game, the TC came and informed us that the seats we had occupied were already booked by someone else, from Mysore. He gave us two options: take a ticket in the general class and travel in that, or get down at Mysore. In any case, he said that the amount we (actually Raghu) had paid for our tickets already would already have been returned, so we must pay for the trip we had from Bangalore to Mysore. That would be 120 Rs for sleeper class. Add to that, the unconfirmed ticket means ticketless travel, so a fine of 250 rs. That meant each of us had to pay 370 Rs for a trip from Bangalore to Mysore. But when he had given those seats, his intention was very clear, to make money. Just as we expected, he took a total of 200 Rs from us, and we alighted at Mysore train station at 11.30 PM.
Then we took a prepaid auto from there to Mysore KSRTC bus stop, paying only 21 Rs. Just as we arrived there fifteen minutes later, we saw a Mangalore-bound bus departing. As I had to take a leak urgently, we skipped that bus and after I relieved myself, we went to speak to the station master there. He put a bomb on us, saying that the bus we had seen was the last bus to Mangalore. Great!!! Someone gave us hope saying there is an Airavata (Volvo intercity bus) in another 15 minutes. We waited, and the bus came as expected. But it was already full. We saw one junk red bus bound to Madikeri, and the conductor suggested that we take that bus and take another from there to Mangalore. But that bus was full, so we skipped that too. After that, there was no bus that would go anywhere close to Mangalore for the next hour and a half. Finally, another Madikeri-bound bus arrived, which was full again.
Then a kind police constable, who was watching us for the two hours we were standing there (taking only a cup of tea in between), told us that it was the last bus for the night, and the next one would be three hours later, at 4.30 AM. Great!!! We boarded the bus, and Shiv found a seat for himself. I saw one empty seat between two men (it was a 3+2 junk bus), but I was reluctant to sit there. A passenger, who was travelling with 2 drums, gave me one drum and told me to sit on that. So I put that drum in the aisle, and sat there with my back towards the direction of the bus. It was a circus. Every time the driver braked, I had to hold on tightly to the rods around.
At Hunsur, one guy sitting next to Shiv alighted (the route of the bus was not through the regular Kushalnagar bus station, but through Virajpet). Finally I had a decent seat. It was congesting, still we managed. I could not get sleep, so I was staring out of the window, trying to remember every place. I got the thoughts of the sort "hey, that's the place where we stopped for a leak during our first Irpu trip", "hey, that's the place where Raghu rode Kunal's Bullet for a while" etc.. Once we crossed Gonikoppa, the road was unfamiliar to me. Then I fell asleep for a while, and when we I woke up, the bus had stopped at Virajpet. The bus was 90% empty at that place, and the driver had suddenly had an adrenaline rush, and he drove like a maniac. We reached Madikeri at 5.25 AM, with me sleeping only for 10 minutes or so. I wonder how Shiv managed to snore!!!
The bus from Madikeri to Mangalore was at 5.30 AM. Aha, five minutes!! We relieved ourselves, and then grabbed a few bananas and some water. Even the Mangalore bus' conductor was there, and so we thought we still had time, so we went to drink some tea. As we drank, the bus left. Shiv tried to wave at the bus with his 2 hands full of bananas. I think the driver thought that Shiv was trying to attract some monkeys, so he ignore Shiv. Damn!!! We had another half an hour for the next bus, so we had Akki Shavige and Uppittu at that small eatery in the bus station. Just as we finished, the next bus arrived. This time, we got into the bus, wasting no time.
And then, 3 small children little ahead of us in the bus vomitted all over the place, forcing us to go to the back rows of the half-empty bus. The journey was quite rocking.. Literally.. Still we both managed to fall asleep. When I woke up, we were in the outskirts of Mangalore. And then the conductor came and reminded us that he owed us some change. That's only 4 Rs. That was very professional!!! We had forgotten about it, but he hadn't.
And the bus reached Mangalore city, and as I saw my house pass by, I asked the driver to stop. He said that the bus doesn't stop at all city bus stops. Damn, I had to get down 2 kms further, and take a city bus and reach home at 10 AM.
Later, Shiv said he reached home at 10.30 AM.

Yet another trip to Irpu

Note: the actual travelogue starts from 4th paragraph. The first 3 are “preface” :-D

Another long weekend was coming up, and we had 2 destinations in mind: South Coorg (again!!) or Ooty. Needless to say, South Coorg was unanimous. So I dialed the Irpu Home Stay number and confirmed our place. That’s a month in advance. Two weeks later, that uncle called back asking whether our plan was confirmed. Indeed, it was!!!

Ragz, Shiv, Ashith, Sudheer and I planned go for the trip. Initially we thought of taking my Palio that could take all the guys’ luggage, while all the other guys would ride freely. Nah, I won’t get to ride, which I prefer to do in South Coorg. Moreover, I was sure that none would be in the car with me, because everyone would want to ride his bike. Later, Guru too confirmed that he’d join. All the guys got their bikes serviced just in time for the trip. Ashith and Shiv (and their Pulsar 180 and 150) hadn’t been to Irpu since January 2007 (I was with them during that trip, obviously). Ragz had been there twice last year (once during the same time and once again during rainy season with his colleagues). It was the first trip to Irpu for Sudheer (and his new Unicorn) and Guru (and his Splendor on which I learnt to ride a motorbike while in Manipal. And it still has the scar it got when I crashed it).

A day before the trip day, I cooked some fried rice for the guys, packed my bags, went to Koramangala and exchanged my car with Dawson’s Pulsar 180, then went to Hotel Ashoka (a bar in Domlur), met up with Sudheer, Shiv and Ragz who had already downed a few beers, and I downed a pint too. Once we were done, we headed to the GM house in RT Nagar. And after some timepass till midnight, we went to sleep, for the next 5 hours.

Although we had planned to hit the road by 6 AM, we managed to do so only by 7. That’s quite an improvement compared to last year!!! Guru met us near Hebbal police station, and we were on our way through West of Chord road to Mysore Road. Our plan was to stop for breakfast at Kamat Lokaruchi after Ramanagara. But looking at the traffic on Mysore road at 7.30 AM, and the crowd at every restaurant by the roadside, it seemed unlikely that we would be able to. Truly, Kamat Lokaruchi’s security guard was really struggling to manage the cars there. Well, big deal. We headed to Kamat Upachar 16 kms further. Shivanand had trailed behind, and he didn’t notice us entering the restaurant, and so he went ahead. When we didn’t see him even when we were half way through our buffet breakfast (for 70 Rs only), we tried calling him. No response. And he called back after some time to tell us that he had reached Mandya!! So we told him to wait, and started the next leg of our journey.

The traffic was dense throughout. Add to that, poor management by Ramanagara district police. They didn’t bother to remove the barricades they had put on the road (which is good at nights, to stop people from overspeeding) even though there was slow-moving traffic for kms and kms. Looking at the dirt around those barricades, it looked as if they hadn’t been moved for at least a few years.

By this time, Ashith had exchanged his Pulsar 180 with Ragz’s Karizma. All the days before our trip, Ashith was dreaming about this opportunity to test the top speed of Karizma. And his dream had come true. Later he said he reached 130 kmph on it!!!

More woes at Mandya. This time, can’t blame Mandya district police force. Poor chaps were just bystanders because they could do nothing about narrow roads which were populated by vacation-goers and city motorists.

After Mandya, there was free-flow of traffic, marred occasionally by the slow-moving three-wheelers or trucks that occupied the rightmost lane, forcing the cars to slowdown and overtake from left. Unfortunately, the rearview mirrors of my bike (actually, Dawson’s) were in bad condition, so I too had to slow down quite a lot before overtaking or changing lanes.

And all this while, I was hoping that we would find lesser traffic on the route from Srirangapatna to Hunsur. We were kinda lucky. There was less traffic once we took that right turn into rural road from Srirangapatna towards Hunsur, but it wasn’t as less as it was last year. And while we waited for all the guys to arrive at that junction, 3 cars stopped and asked directions. Lucky for them, I knew whatever places they mentioned and so I was able to direct them. And that prompted other guys to suggest that I put a table and chair under a tree there and sit and wait for travelers asking for directions and charge them for my service too.

Once we hit the BM road at Ilawala, Ashith went ahead and disappeared from us, and we ourselves were riding at 80+ kmph!! Unfortunately, he missed the turn to Gonikoppa and went towards Piriyapatna. We all met up at that turn and tried calling him. No use. So I sent him an SMS to find his way to Gonikoppa and we’d wait for him. As we went ahead, he called back, and I told him how to reach Gonikoppa from Piriyapatna (I knew the way because we also had got lost and taken this route last year). The ride on this road is a wonderful experience. The road goes through the protected forest. And the weather is pretty cool even during midsummer. I can’t imagine how cold it would be during winter nights! We rode without our helmets or jackets, just to experience this climate.

And Ashith managed to reach Gonikoppa before us and there was more confusion. Sudheer, Ragz and I had some beer at Gonikoppa and while waiting for other guys to come. And finally we all managed to get back together and headed towards Irpu. Four of us (Guru, Ashith, Sudheer and I) went ahead and reached Irpu Home Stay. Ragz and Shiv somehow missed their way and managed to reach some half an hour later.

Uncle and aunty greeted us. And after the exchange of usual wishes, we were ready for lunch. As the saying goes, ‘hunger is the best sauce’, we gobbled up our lunch in no time. Then we spent some time on the benches (made of bamboo) and sways which the Timmaiahs (uncle and aunty) have installed in their front yard, under the trees. When you sit here and gaze at the world, to the extent that your eye can see, you see only green (except one small patch downhill where you see the roof of a godown). As you look up, the green ends and the blue starts. It’s so wonderful.

Later, we played shuttle and basketball in their front yard. The gentle breeze was tingling us once in a while, and also spoiling the game by giving unexpected twists to the shuttlecock. As darkness approached, it was time to play rummy. Sudheer is the punter in this game. But we did manage to get fewer points than him in some games. And of course, beer was there to accompany us. We had decided not to drink any hard liquor. We had no intention of getting drunk and ruining such a nice vacation. And KF Premium can never get us drunk. Jai Vijay Mallya!!!

Aunty served onion pakoda as we played. And it was so tasty that we had to pause our play to empty the plates. Even the dinner, complete with pork cooked in Coorgi style, was exemplary.

In between Rummy, we also played Donkey and Bluff. Guru, who had detached himself from us to sit under the trees because he didn’t know to play Rummy, also joined to play Donkey and Bluff. As the night went on, we got bored of card games, so we just sat there and chatted. Uncle also joined us and shared his stories with us. Finally, it was curtains down for the day by midnight.

When I woke up the next morning, Guru had already gotten up and visited the Irpu Rameshwara temple and had had his breakfast too. Once Ashith woke up, we 2 had our breakfast of dosa with a wonderful coconut chutney, lemon rice and sambar. By then, even the other 3 guys joined us. After breakfast, we played more shuttle. We cancelled our plan to go to Wayanad, that disappointed Guru. Not sure if it disappointed him because he also expressed a shock when we told him that going to View Point south of Wayanad, and coming back, would come to around 220 kms in one day. But in the end, it was a good idea not to go. We had our lunch there, which was totally vegetarian. They had assumed that we would not be having lunch, so they hadn’t had much stock of food. And we emptied every vessel in which food was served, and that pleased the old couple, who said they want the same “performance” from us during other meals too.

After evening tea, we finally decided to take a short ride through the tea estate of Tata. We headed to their Glen-Lorna estate. I felt that the tea estate region was colder than other parts of Coorg. Was it because of higher elevation, or was it the influence of some 2000 acres of tea plants? Anyway, one gate of the tea estate was open, so we entered the estate. Yeah, we trespassed into Tata’s property. After spending some time there, we headed back home for more Rummy/Donkey/Bluff and more food. Uncle prepared barbeque for us, and we had that along with onion pakoda, egg pakoda and beer. I slept pretty early after dinner, while the rest of the guys continued to play cards.

When I woke up the next morning, Guru had woken up again. The rest of the guys were still sleeping. We had nothing to do, so we plucked some chikku fruits from the tree and ate them. It is so thrilling to eat fruits directly from the tree!! Uncle saw us and called one of the guys (Bollu) working in his estate to pluck a few chikkus and that guy plucked a big bag full. By then, Guru had gone to Irpu falls, and the other guys were also up. Ragz and Sudheer too headed to the falls. And suddenly we realized that had not enough cash to pay for the expenses!!! Once Guru came back, we went to Kutta and found no ATM there and came back empty handed. That was some 30 kms of journey. Then we reluctantly asked uncle about the closest ATM and he told us that it is in Ponnampet, which is near Gonikoppa. So Guru and I went to Ponnampet and got the cash. By then we had traveled 80 kms already!!

When we reached back home, the other guys had had their breakfast and uncle and aunty were ready to go for some function that they had to attend. Aunty served the two of us the last few remaining KADUBUs with coconut chutney. By the time we had packed our bags, they had already left. So we handed over the room keys to their servant Gopi and we hit the road.

Guru stopped for some time to check his bike. That’s again at Ponnampet. But he joined the rest of us soon. Our return journey seemed quicker than forward journey. We had left from Irpu at 12.30 in the afternoon and had reached the BM road in about 2 hours. Ragz stopped to buy mangoes while Sudheer stopped by a garage to get his bike checked (as his bike had fallen to its left while going back to the road from the side, after a short break). The rest of us also stopped a little ahead to drink tender coconut water, at Ilawala. This is the place where the shortcut to Srirangapatna begins. As we were drinking the coconut water, we saw Ragz speeding by. He had missed the turn, but he realized it as he approached the outskirts of Mysore. We told him to come and meet us at that junction outside Srirangapatna. Actually, he took almost the same time as us, because the road he had taken is far better than the rural road. I think we will not take this shortcut anymore.

Once we were back together, we rode to Mandya and stopped there for lunch. After lunch, the trip continued. The road was as crowded with cars as it was when we had left. We were so desperate to get back home that we didn’t stop many times. Our butts were aching, and we all had the same complaint, that the elastic of the underwear was giving more pains. I think I will design underwear that is best suited for bikers and market it with a cruiser bike brand name.

Guru had gone far ahead of us. Ragz, Shiv and Ashith took the diversion at Kengeri to go to RT Nagar. Sudheer and I continued to his house at Domlur and have a few beers. Then I went to Koramangala and exchanged the bike with the car and went back home, and slept for an hour in the hot water in the bath tub. Today, my body still aches, but I like it….