Another trip to South Coorg

Ever since I visited South Coorg in January 2007, I wanted to go there again. Finally I got this opportunity during the first week of May (2008). Sachin, Raghavendra and my brother Roshan agreed to come, but none of the guys from the previous trip to the same place. I found out that the Poonachas' High falls Holiday Home had become too expensive for us, with 1200 Rs per person per day (though it included all meals, it still was expensive!!). So I got this place called Irpu Home Stay (Belonging to Timmaiahs), just about 300 meters far from High Falls, but at about one-third of the cost.
A day before our trip, Thomas and Kunal said they too would join. So we met these guys (both with their own Bullets) near City Market and soon we hit the Mysore Road. We already were nearly an hour later than our scheduled time of 7 AM. And we had to wait for nearly half an hour at Kadumane, just to get a place to sit and have our breakfast. Then we decided that we would meet next only at the turn from Mysore road towards Hunsur. Thomas and Kunal went ahead, while Sachin, Raghavendra, Roshan and I moved on slowly, as we were 2 guys on each bike: Pulsar 150 (which I had borrowed from Shivanand, as my Caliber wasn't suited for two riders for such a journey) and Karizma (Raghavendra's new bike that had done only 140 KM before this journey).
We stopped in between for tender coconuts (and in the case of Sachin, cigarettes too), and fought about who would ride the Karizma. After we crossed Mandya city (or town, whatever), Kunal called to tell us that Thomas and he had already taken the right turn after Srirangapatna, and were relaxing in a field. We too reached that spot soon, to find them sitting under a coconut tree, with sugarcane field on their side. By then our (the pillion riders') a$$es had taken enough pounding, so we desperately needed a break.
After the break, Thomas and Kunal decided to exchange their bikes, so they started adjusting something on Kunal's bike, while the other 4 continued towards Hunsur. We crossed the power grid area, and reached the BM road (the wide 4 lane road that goes on the outskirts of Mysore). After stopping at one place for tender coconut, we continued. Though the 3 of us were sure that Thomas and Kunal were behind us, Sachin firmly told us that they had gone ahead. So I told him, if at all they are behind us, I am going to break a tender coconut on his head. Soon Kunal called and told us to wait for him at some place, so that we could get together and go for lunch. So I still owe Sachin's head a tender coconut.
We waited for the Bulleteers at the bypass to Hunsur. Once they came, we entered the Hunsur town, and stopped at a veg restaurant for lunch. It was already 1.30 PM then. After ordering food, Kunal, Sachin and I went into the bar next door. Good old KF was really really really refreshing!!! And it was a perfect appetizer too.
After lunch, our next town was Gonikoppalu. We came out of Hunsur town and hit the BM road again. Meanwhile, Mrs Timmaiah called me up to check whether we are coming or not. I had told her earlier that we would be reaching at around 2.30 or 3, but now we had covered only about 70% distance by 3 PM.
Unfortunately, all of us missed that left turn from BM road towards Gonikoppalu, and ended going through Piriyapattana. The road was bad, and I could not remember going through this town last time. Still we continued, and after about 6 km, finally decided to ask someone (typical men, always hesitating to ask for directions). And there we got to know that we had to go back to Piriyapattana and take a right turn. So we went back on the bad road, and took that turn. This stretch of road was not very good either. Finally we came to the junction of this road and the road which we should actually have taken. Right at this junction is a checkpost and a board that welcomes you to Rajiv Gandhi Sanctuary.

And once you are on this part of the road, you don't feel like wearing helmet anymore. You ride through the forest, and feel the wind flowing through your hair. The road is straight, and gets your mind lost. But within a few kilometres, you are back into civilization. And so we continued, from Hudikeri to T.Shettigeri, stopping in between only to give rest to our aching rear-ends. At T.Shettigeri, we stopped for tea. It was already 5.30 PM then, and we had about 20 km more to go. And here the roads are not so good. They look good because they are tarred newly. However, while putting a new layer of tar, these repair people don't fill up the potholes, so the road gives you a bumpy ride.

By the time we reached Irpu, it was beyond 6 PM, and the Timmaiahs were waiting for us. They have only 2 guest rooms, and as we had booked both these, we had no worry of getting disturbed by other tourists/travellers. Though our original plan was to go to Irpu falls that day itself, it was already late. The entry to Irpu falls is controlled by the forest department, and you have to pay Rs 10 to enter. And it is shared equally by the temple there and the forest department. No free access to that beautiful falls.

Finally we managed to Reach Mr Timmaiah's house. And the moment we we saw the house, and the surroundings, all our pain vanished. Mr Timmaiah showed us our rooms, and other things we could use: a hammock (which, he said, is made of the same rope that is used to tie ships to the port, and so will not break even for my weight) and a swing (which is tied to the trees that are so strong that the tree will not break, even for my weight). The rooms had attached bathrooms, 2 beds each, and quite a few chairs, including two easy-chairs. PERFECT!!!!

Kunal, who preferred being closer to the nature than the rest of us, pitched his tent in one corner of the open ground in front of the house. I took a bath in the cold water, and it was as refreshing as drinking beer!!! The water was so soft, that I didn’t need to use much soap, and it didn’t affect my hair at all.

That night, the dinner consisted of pork and chicken curries, chapatis, sambar and rice. But before dinner, we guys had to have our usual tonic. So came out from my bag a full bottle of Black&White, 1/3rd Jack Daniel's, 1/3rd Teacher's Highland Cream and 1/4th Bacardi Reserva. Mr Timmaiah, who we had started already calling 'uncle', gave us the KF strong beer he had, plus ice cubes.After all the plates were wiped clean, we went to sleep. Kunal went to his tent, Thomas and Roshan went into one room, and Raghu, Sachin and I went into another. We 3 guys were thinking of chatting until late night. But the moment we hit the bed, we wanted to stop all other activities. Next morning Sachin told me that I was telling them something about my previous trip to Irpu, and just as I was telling, I stopped abruptly, and started snoring moments later.

Next morning we were up at 8, to finish off the poori bhaji that Mrs Timmaiah ("aunty") had made for us. Thomas and Kunal studied the map of South India and decided to enter to Kerala through Wayanad (about 7 KM from Irpu) and go to Calicut. The rest of us headed for Irpu falls, about half a KM from where we stayed.But we were shocked to see the number of vehicles already there. There were 2 tourist buses, and at least 10 cars. We entered the gates, and went through the cement pathway (perfect to spoil your mood if you are looking for a natural path to the falls). There was a bridge to cross the stream (that comes from the falls) but we guys went through the rocks of the stream, to get some feel of the nature. And when we reached the falls, all we could see was people. And the authorities have even put a platform made from bamboo, all the way to the bottom of the falls. It was so disgusting, that I decided not to get under the falling water. I would hate to stand in a queue to get under the water!!!! Once the other guys finished their bath (Raghu and Sachin hadn't taken bath the previous night), we sat there for a while, looking at all the silly things the people there were doing. Someone had put a fire in one of the wastebins, and the smell of burning plastic was all around.We came back to our house, and gulped some cold beer. And we went to sleep after lunch, at around 1.30 PM, hoping to get up by 3, and go to Kuruva island in Kerala. But when we got up (after great difficulty) at around 3.30, Mrs Timmaiah informed us that Thomas and Kunal were coming back and would have lunch there, as there was some strike in Kerala. FOILED!!!! Even we had no chance to go to Kerala then. Thomas and Kunal were back, and they said they had been to the island, and it looked very boring. So no island. What to do? Kunal said they saw a stream in Irpu and we could try spending time there. So we 4 went to that stream. It looked pretty dirty, and deep too. There was no possibility of going up the stream.

The shores were full of plants, and the stream was deep. So we tried going down the stream. As we were exploring, two young girls came with buckets filled with clothes. Hmmmm, it was the washing place for them, and there was no point for us to spend time there. So we went back to the house. Mr Timmaiah suggested that we could actually trek through his brother's estate, on the hill behind. This is Brahmagiri. And if you really want to trek, you need to take permission from the forest department, and you have to take a guide along (of course, you have to pay for the guide too!!).

Soon we had started our trek. After the coffee estate ended, it was a path through thorny bushes. And I felt really tired. So Sachin, Roshan and I decided to go back, while Thomas and Kunal continued trekking, as if they were walking on a tar road. Raghu went with them.

As we were walking towards our house, we could see the shiny yellow t-shirt of Raghu (If you look closely, you can actually spot him in the photo). After looking at him closely, we could see Thomas and Kunal (who weren't wearing "attractive" clothes) as well. From that distance, Raghu looked just as small as the nail of my pinkie. Those who know him also know his size. Now imagine how far up they were!!!

But it was getting dark, so we 3 went back to the house. After waiting for a long long time, the trekkers finally came back. By then it was pitch dark outside. They hadn't gone much further from where they were when we had seen them earlier. It is illegal to enter the area without permission and these guys didn't want to risk getting caught for trespassing into a wildlife sanctuary.

Soon we started our 2nd day's drinks. Jack Daniel's and Bacardi Reserva were finished, and Black&White was opened.

Mr Timmaiah had lit a fire with some wood, so make coal to prepare barbeque for us. Soon we had barbequed chicken, and some potato and onion that Kunal put under the coal.

After another sumptuous meal, it was time to end another day. We wanted to celebrate Roshan's birthday, but had no energy to wait until midnight. Next day Thomas and Kunal would continue to Calicut early in the morning, and the others had plans to go to Phookode lake and see the surrounding area.By the time we got up at 8, Kunal and Thomas had finished their breakfast of Akkirotti with some kind of spinach curry. We celebrated Roshan's birthday then. We left about an hour after they left, and headed towards Kerala. We had to go through the bad roads of Kutta. The moment we crossed the border, the condition of the road was completely different. There is one place with board that says it is the Karnataka-Kerala border. One side of the road has a road that hasn't been tarred for ages, while the other side has perfectly tarred road. Now we had entered the Wayanad district. We continued through the forest, and went on for about 70 km from the border, passing Mananthavady (the first town you get in Kerala on this road), Vythiri and Kalpetta on the way. We saw many roadsigns that gave directions to Edakal caves, and different waterfalls. We also saw tea estates for the first time during this trip.We reached the Phookode lake, and it was rather boring. There was a few peddle boats, and there were enough people in queue to use them. So we went 3 km further, to a place called Viewpoint. This is the beginning of the Ghat road that goes down, down and down and apparently we can even see Calicut from there. Well well well, when we went we could hardly see anything. The whole area was covered in fog. The fog seemed to rise rapidly from the bottom of the mountain, so it hadn't occupied the road. But the road seemed so maginficent and irresistible that we gave up all our other plans and continued on the road. It is a narrow road (a national highway, I guess), but well maintained. Riding on it is a pleasure, as long as you stay away from the monstrous KSRTC (Kerala SRTC) buses whose drivers seem to have problem spotting smaller vehicles on the road. May be their government should conduct eye-tests for them.

After a long long long journey, we reached the bottom of the hill, a town called Adivaram. We had tea there. Sachin had a cigarette too. There was a board there that said the Calicut beach was only 45 km from there. That's an hour's ride. But Sachin wasn't too interested, so we headed back, upwards. Raghu and Roshan went far ahead and Sachin and I went slowly. Half way through our journey, it started raining. As we got closer to Viewpoint, it was pouring cats and dogs. We could not see beyond 20 meters or so. Still some irreponsible drivers hadn't switched on their headlamps. We stopped at Viewpoint, and the rain got heavier. It was one awesome experience. Sachin could smoke without the fear of being caught (public smoking draws 500 Rs fine, we heard).We continued on our journey back, and when we reached Kalpetta, it was 3 PM. Mr Timmaiah had suggested that we lunch at Hotel Woodlands there. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed. Fortunately, the food court was open. And the food there is awesome. The place is unbelievably clean and economical. In the food court, the food is cooked in front of you, so you know the quality. Raghu and I weren't satisfied with one round of food, so we asked the cook what food could he cook. The restaurant was long closed for others. But for us, the cook agreed to prepare food, so we bought more food. When we were finally done, it was 4 PM, and they were sticking the evening snack menus to the wall. But we were too filled up to have tea and snacks. So we continued our journey back to Irpu. We crossed Mananthavady and continued further. We stopped at a shack for tea. We asked the boy there whether the road led to Karnataka, and he said yes. All in broken English and Malayalam. As we went on, to my surprise I could see lot of tea estates. But I could not remember seeing them while going to Phookode. The first tea estate we had seen then were very close to Phookode. It was obvious that we had lost our way. Luckily we found a few men who had parked their car on the roadside, probably for a smoke. They told us that we had come quite a distance on the wrong road (which led to Talassery), after missing a right turn at Mananthavady. So we begain our 11 km journey back to Mananthavady.It is easy for a traveller to get lost in Mananthavady. There are many one-ways, but and very few roadsigns. But this time we managed to find the right road. We picked up some snacks at Kutta and headed back home. It was probably about 7 PM when we reached back home. By the time I finished my bath and came out, Sachin and Raghu had already emptied the Teacher's, and now only Black&White was left. Mr Timmaiah joined us with his bottle, Mansion house brandy. We sat and shared a lot of stories. Mr Timmaiah said that we were the best group who had been there, since the time they started homestay in January 2007 (DAMN! That's the first time I went to Irpu!!!). We were the cleanest, and least fighting. He said he really liked our way of putting all waste in one plastic bag, instead of throwing into their garden. And he shared with us their experiences while running he homestay: some tourists of one room stealing cigarette packets of a britisher staying in the next room, 2 people of a group fighting over the girl both were interested in (but luckily, the girl wasn't there with them then), some people fighting over the bill etc.

Sunday morning was a sad time. We had rice idlis with sambar and chutney, and after settling our bill (which was nowhere close to what we had expected, with beer and cigarettes costing only a few rupees more than MRP, and non-veg food costing very cheap too), we left from there at 8.45 AM. We knew the way, and we had no intention to stop often, except to let the blood flow into certain parts of the body that are deprived of blood while riding. We stopped for lunch at Kamat Lokaruchi, and by 4.30 PM, we were back breathing the polluted air.

Goa!!!!

Spending the long weekend (of 4 days holidays) in Goa was really exciting. Thomas too liked the idea. He asked a few of his friends, and from among them, Diana joined us. I called my brother Roshan, and he too agreed. Through a friend of mine, I arranged an apartment for us at Calangute.
So we 4 left in Thomas' Scorpio from Bangalore at 5.30 AM to beat the possible traffic jam near Peenya.
Indeed, we managed to beat the jam and we continued on to Tumkur road. After paying the toll of 22 Rs (single payment for both the toll booths at the two sides of Tumkur) at Tumkur toll booth, we continued to Tiptur and reached Arsikere. The Tumkur road is really good, but the road from Tiptur to Arsikere has a few bad stretches. But in a Scorpio, you don't feel it much.
After having breakfast at Arsikere at around 9.30 AM (that consisted of masala dosa, rava masala dosa and tea), and buying some fruits, we headed towards Shimoga. I tried to drive the Scorpio, but realised that I was in no position to control this beast. I felt that should have tried driving on the broader roads, as the roads here are narrow, and you have to go slightly off the road when a similar sized vehicle comes from the opposite direction.
So Thomas had to take the wheel again, though he was already tired. Then we reached Jog through Sagar. Again, this part of the road reminds you that you are in Karnataka. But when you get closer to Jog, the road is good. It is full of sharp curves though.
When I saw the Job Falls, I was awestruck. It was my first time at Jog. The Sharavathi river fell from about 250 meters, giving us this magnificiant view (and also electricity!!!). The glory was not at its best though. Still the Raja, Rani, Roarer and Rocket didn’t fail to awe us. From the top, you can look at the people near the bottom of the falls, and they don’t look much bigger than ants.
We parked the car (for 20 Rs parking fee), and decided to go at least half way down. The time was already 3, and we had to hurry up. So we trekked down on the steps created using big stones. The path is really nice. It is well decorated with the wrappers of all the brands of biscuits, chocolates, soft drinks and gutkha. So if any of you or your friends are doing some survey/research on consumables, this is a place to visit.
While going down, I saw some green thing moving near my legs. I leapt in fear, because it was a snake. Green in colour, perfectly camouflaged between the green leaves. I was just thinking how lucky I was, until a man there told me that it is not venomous and it just hits you like a whip. Whew, that's gotta be painful!!!
We didn’t go much further. We came back to the top, had some tea at a hotel there, and continued towards Karwar. This road is also good, until you hit the national highway NH 17 (that goes from Kerala to Mumbai, via Mangalore, Karwar and Goa). And once you are on this NH, your worst nightmare comes true. The road is virtually out of existence. And the movement of heavy trucks further worsens the driving condition.
After continuing on this road for what seemed eternity, we came to Gokarna Cross road. By this time it was already dark. We went into Gokarna, and when we reached the beach, it was 8 PM (no no, not the whisky... The time..).
There were many people here still. We walked along the shore towards our right side, after seeing a few lights and what looked like a celebration at a distance. It was some locals celebrating Deepavali, so they were bursting crackers and having a pooja. We spent some time there, where Diana successfully lit a cigarette after a 3 or 4 failed attempts. It must say, that's an achievement. Once a friend of mine and I had spent more than 20 matches on the shores of Someshwara beach (in Mangalore) to light a cigarette, that too while hiding behind rocks!! And she did it while standing on the shore, facing the sea!!!
After Gokarna, we hit the NH again. We stopped at a fuel station for refueling and the guy told us that the road continues to be in this state for the next 60 KM or so. But he was wrong. The road improved after some 45 KM. He had cheated us by giving us wrong figures X-)))))
The road was good once we reached Karwar. So we could continue without much delay. I called up Mr Puntu (who, being a neighbour, would help us in finding the apartment). It was already dark and we were getting desperate to reach our destination. Tiredness was obvious from Thomas' face. It isn't easy driving some 700 km in one day!!!
At the Karnataka-Goa border, the Karnataka police demanded 100 Rs 'entry fee' though we weren't entering Karnataka. Little further, the Goa police also stopped and asked for Thomas' passport and the car's documents. It was obvious from his face that he wanted money, but he didn’t ask. So we didn’t give. And finally we were on Goan soil. We entered Canacona district. Here also the roads are bad. Until then I had thought that all the roads in Goa are good.
We continued towards Panjim, but lost our way somewhere. The problem was that it was too dark, and there were no signboards. The national highway itself wasn't any broader than the town roads, so it was almost impossible to make out the correct way. Clock showed something like 11 PM. And there were no other vehicles that we could follow.
But luckily, a man helped us in finding our way. We were back on NH and we continued further. Once we came close to Panjim, there were enough signboards to tell us where to go. We had no problem in finding the diversion to Calangute after Panjim. But once we reached the road to Calangute, we had to find St. Anthony's Chapel. But even after driving for 7 or 8 km, I could not find it. Even Mr Puntu could not figure out where we were. Just as we thought we were lost, we found the chapel. Mr Puntu was waiting for us near the chapel, clad only in a blue coloured lungi. He showed us our apartment and went to his apartment to sleep. It was beyond midnight already. So we went to sleep without wasting much time.
Next morning, we were ready by around 9. As Diana wanted to go to Panjim, we drove to Panjim, parked the car in a parking lot in the market area (at 5 Rs per hour) and had breakfast at a small hotel there. Even though we ate a lot, the bill was very less. After breakfast, we walked to the place where Diana wanted to go, and found it with less difficulty.
After Panjim, we drove to Old Goa. The road is very straight, with the river (I think Mandovi river) on the left side. The roads in Goa, especially around Panjim and other tourist places, are maintained very well. They are narrow, but there are no junctions to cause traffic jams. And signboards are all around helping you to simply look at them and drive.
So at Old Goa, we first went to the Bom Jesus Basilica where St Francis Xavier's body is kept. St Francis Xavier is considered as the patron saint of Goa. The body is kept at a height and so it is not visible. It is kept for public display only once in ten years and the next such display is in 2014. the basilica itself is really beautiful. It is built using red stones, something that has been very common in buildings along the coast since centuries. The interiors look somewhat like the Chapel of St Aloysius in Mangalore (the chapel is in the school where I had my primary education). But I think St Aloysius chapel is more decorated (with paintings on Jesus' life) than Bom Jesus basilica.
Then we crossed the road and went to Se Cathedral. When we crossed the road, Diana remarked that the road looked like some road in Europe. Quite true. The lines on the road are clearly marked and the footpaths are very good. After seeing the old bishop's house (which is an art gallery now), we went to St Cajetan's church, which is a little further from Se Cathedral. St Cajetan is the patron saint for workers and the unemployed. But this church does not seem to be as popular as the other churches around. There were very few visitors.
It was noon by the time we left Old Goa and headed towards Fort Aguada. Diana was getting more and more restless to jump into the sea. And we disappointed her further by going to see the fort at Aguada. We trekked for about 20 minutes to see the different parts of the fort. As it was already 3 in the afternoon, we decided not to go further (though we could go for another 2 KM at least, from what we could see). So we headed towards Coco beach. A beach of glory once, now this is ruined. It seems that the level of sea increased and destroyed whatever was at the shores. Now there are only red stones on the shores; those from the destroyed walls and those dumped there to stop sea erosion.
We walked into the sea towards a sand island created by the sea water. The water was below knee level. Here we dumped our stuff, and the three of us except me went into the sea. I was feeling very hungry, so I packed all the expensive stuff in my bag, left the clothes behind, crossed the sea and came to a restaurant that is named after me (seriously!! It was called Rohan restaurant!!!). Here I ordered seer fish fry and prawn fry. By the time my mates returned from the sea, I had almost finished my dishes. We ordered more of sea food, including prawns, squid and fish.
After this, we headed back to our apartment. We stopped on the way to pick up some water, fenny and some orange juice. I also bought some bebinca. Later at home we had fenny, with me drinking the most. Diana didn’t seem to like the taste, especially because it was coconut fenny. But then, unlike most coconut fennies that I have had, this one was not pungent. It wasn't much crude, and it was smooth. And when we mixed it with orange juice, it didn’t taste much different from screwdriver. Probably because it cost us 3 times the normal cost. We paid 150 Rs for this bottle.
Later we decided to walk to Calangute beach. While walking, we didn’t take the deviation towards Calangute, and instead we walked straight. We could see restaurants on both the sides of the road, but not the beach. We were actually walking parallel to the beach (something which we realised the next day when we took a look at the map) without realizing it. Finally we stopped at restaurant where a band was playing. I had my usual prawns curry with rice while the rest had little food. The band was interesting. They were playing some jazz and blues kinda music, but using only guitars, drums and keyboards.
Later we took a taxi to Calangute beach. After spending some time sitting on the shores and chatting (we didn’t want to get into the water as we had already had bath), we took another taxi to return to our apartment. Taxis are somewhat compareable to the autorickshaws of Bangalore. They demand excess fares easily (but unlike autorickshaws of Bangalore, they don't refuse to come).
The next morning, Saturday, we headed towards Anjuna after having breakfast at a Spanish-looking bakery at Calangute called Infantaria. The food was good, but they took lot of time to serve us. There were lots of customers, so we could excuse them.
While driving to Anjuna, we saw the Ingo's Saturday Night Bazaar getting ready for the night. We already had plans to visit this place in the night. As we drove on, I could remember the roads on which we (few friends) had ridden bikes on our last visit to Goa about 2 years ago.
As you know, the beach at Anjuna is rocky. So once we reached the beach, we went towards the right side of the beach (towards Vagathor), walking on the rocks and on the path created by earlier visitors on the edge of the hill. After some 10 minutes walk, we reached a place which was somewhat hidden from the main part of the beach. It was kinda secluded. We could see the boats at a distance, and one or two men at a distance on the rocks searching for crabs.
I decided to stay on the shore while the rest of us went into the water. I was too scared to go into the water because I don’t know swimming. And I know at least 3 guys (2 of them from our neighbourhood in Mangalore) who got drowned after slipping from the rocks. After spending some time on the rocks taking pictures of the three, I decided to take a nap under a small tree. I just put my floaters under my head, covered my eyes with my arms and slept. I don’t know for how long I slept. I forgot to check the time before I went to sleep.
I was woken up suddenly by some heavy thing on my stomach and some giggles. When I opened my eyes, the three were standing in front of me and laughing. Diana had kept some pieces of a big wild fruit (that looked like a pineapple, and grew on a tree whose leaves looked exactly like pineapple leaves) and a few small, round stones on my stomach and taken a photograph of me. It looked really funny :-)
After spending some more time, we headed back. Time was something like 4.30 PM, so we stopped for food at Anjuna itself, at a place called Biryani Palace. Indeed the fish biryani Roshan ordered was so tasty that I finished it off, forcing him to order a chicken biryani. Thomas also ordered a fish biryani after tasting some. Even the tea there was excellent. That was the best tea I had had in Goa.
Then we headed towards Vagathor, going in front of the house where I had stayed during my previous visit to Goa. Vagathor is just about 3 km from Anjuna. When we reached Vagathor, the sun was just setting. And we could see the fort at a distance. Unfortunately we didn’t have time to go there. And I cursed myself for not going to Vagathor fort the last time!!! Guys (those who were with me the last time), if you are reading this, let us curse the guy who planned the trip!!!!
When we went to the beach, the sun had already set and it was getting dark. People were leaving, and so we got a chance to go into the water again. While I waited on the shores guarding our stuff, the rest of us went into the water again. I was just soaking my legs when I noticed a 1 litre Dettol bottle. So I threw it into the sea. And it came back to me. I kept on throwing it (taking care to throw it away from the swimmers) and it kept on coming back to me. But when it slipped from my hands and fell close to Thomas, I decided it was too risky to play around.
Later we went back to our apartment for a good night's sleep. We had to get up earlier than usual on the morrow because we had to leave for Bangalore. Though we wanted to visit the Panolim beach, we decided to take a different route, through Hubli, for a better ride. So we could not visit this beach.
And by 8 the next morning, we were back on the road. We went on NH4A through Old Goa and Ponda. After a short stop at an average hotel for breakfast at Ponda, we continued towards Karnataka. The Goan roads were still good, even when we reached the ghat section. But once we crossed the 'Welcome to Karnataka' sign, expectedly, the road condition was really bad. But then, after a few tens of kilometres, the road was good again. The same road, NH4A, continues to Belgaum. Though I was aware of a shorter route (through Dharwad) to Hubli, we decided to go to Belgaum and then to Hubli. Because, from what I have heard, the road through Dharwad is really bad.
We took a short break at Belgaum. Diana was not feeling well at all, so she slept on the 2nd row of the car. So I sat in the last row, and Roshan sat next to Thomas, who was driving. For the first time during our whole trip, the positions were changed!!! All the while, Thomas was driving, I was sitting next to him, Roshan was sitting behind me and Diana was sitting behind Thomas.
We reached Hubli and then the road to Bangalore, the NH206 (I think). This road is excellent most of the time. But there are bad stretches. They are bad mostly because of abandoned road construction. There are so many pillars and structures built for flyovers, but then the work seems to have stopped completely. At one particular stretch, about 1 meter of the road had gone down. And this is almost impossible to make out until it is too late. And it was too late for us. I was listening to the music with my laptop on my lap. And it went flying and hit the roof and its display got shattered. Boo hoo, my new laptop :-(
We missed out a detour before Harihar. Instead of taking the right part of the Y, we took the left and entered Harihar. From there we had to go through Davanagere also. But finally we managed to reach Peenya at around 10. And there was a huge traffic jam in which we were stuck for about an hour. And by the time I reached home, it was almost midnight. Thomas would have taken another half an hour more to reach his house.

Midnight Trek to Kalavara Betta

A trek after a long time. And my first trek at a place so close to Bangalore. This time I went to Kalavara Betta, close to Nandi Hills. The uniqueness about this trek was that the upward trek was completely at night!!!
It was organized by KMA, and so there were over 40 people. Many of my friends and colleagues had joined me, because I got the information well in advance, and so I was able to inform all the interested ones.
So, after parking our bikes at one of my friends' house near Hebbal, we (Rachana, Ashith, Gurunandan, Murugesh, Suraj and I) went to the meeting point in Hebbal. Many of the trekkers were already there, some I knew from earlier treks and some new. Thomas was already there, wearing full trousers (after we told him about the leeches earlier that week). A bus took us to the bottom of Kalavara Betta. It took about an hour. After some food at the temple there, and taking further food (Frooti, chikkis and Parle-G biscuits), we started our trek. Everyone was excited because in a country far far away, Indian cricket team had almost triumphed over the ODI world champions. Within five minutes of our trek's start, Indian cricketers had eliminated the Australians from Twenty20 championship.
The black night was all over us. The moon and the stars were hiding behind the black clouds. We could see the lights of the city at a distance. We could see a few flickers of lights of the small houses nearby. They were of no use to us to show us the way. We had our own torches and headlamps. Or at least, a few of us. There were many who, despite knowing that it was a night trek, had failed to bring their own torches. Pretty surprising!!!
One of the guides led the way. I think it was Laxminarayan. He is a man in his 40s, but still has the energy and enthusiasm of a young trekker. This was my third trek with him. No matter how the terrain is, he always wears a t-shirt, either shorts and full track pants, and slippers. There were other guides at the end of the line, to make sure that people don’t get left behind or lose their way.
After crossing the fields, we started our jorney through the huge rocks and boulders. The guides showed us the way. After an initial journey on the flat rocks, the climb began. All of us slowly climbed through the rocks in a long line, a few of us struggling, some even slipping and falling. Some parts were really steep. And there were parts where we had to climb straight up on the artificial steps (very small, just enough to keep half your foot over them). And I was wondering how to trek on these treacherous rocks while going back. One false step, irrespective of whether you are going up or going down, would push you a few tens of feet down. That would surely give you a fracture or two!!!
After the long climb, we came across an almost flat land. We probably had covered about three-fourth of the distance. And at that place, we were shocked to see a tent. We got further shocks when a small black head popped out of the tent and said, "omlette, tea, coffee...". Who on Earth would expect a tea shop at that height??? Those who didn’t see this small boy thought that someone among us trekkers was shouting like this.
From there, we trekked further to reach the fort there. It is not sure who built this fort. Some say that Hyder Ali started building it and it was completed during Tipu Sultan's reign. Some say that it was built by Kempegowda himself. However, one of our guides told us (with an initial warning that he himself isn't sure of it) that it was built by a local ruler called Mahadeva Nayaka to protect himself and his people from Hyder Ali and later Tipu Sultan. May be this is true. There was a temple at the top of the hill and a lifesize statue of Nandi.
I think the time was around 4 AM at this time. From this place, we went to the campsite where we would stay till the dawn. This place had big flat rocks on which we could rest. And the wall of the fort protected us from wind. How fast the wind was, we would discover only the next morning. But for now, we were not bothered about exploring. It was too dark, and thus it was too risky. And it was really cold. I hadn't worn my jacket yet. But many of us had curled ourselves like prawns (hmmmmm!!!! My favourite food!!!!) to protect ourselves from cold. Some of us were sleeping on each other, at least partially, with the intention of sharing the body heat. I could see Thomas sitting with his chin on his knees. He was fully covered up, and only his fingers and a small part of his face could be seen. Gurunandan was sleeping on a rock. Suraj was sleeping with his head between two sitting guys. Rachana was sitting between Ashith and Shivnanad. Murugesh had covered himself in his leather jacket. Within half an hour, I too wore my jacket, the same one that has been my companion in every trip since four years or so. It is thick and gives perfect protection from cold. But this day I was wearing three-fourths, and so my legs were still exposed. Somehow I managed to survive the few hours there.
After about three hours, the sun could finally be felt. We could see the light, but the clouds were still thick, so we couldn’t see the light giver. A few us now decided to explore the place. We climbed on to the wall of the fort that protected us from the wind. And now we realised how strong the wind was. It was hard to stand straight. Wind was probably strong enough sweep a child off its feet.
By this time, someone had lit some wood and made a "campfire". Though we had wished for the fire during the night itself, it was not unwelcome now. We gathered around it and warmed ourselves up. And soon we left that place to go to the top of the peak. Though we had already visited this place the last night, now we could clearly see what all was there. The small temple, the statue of Nandi. I found a nice, almost flat rock and I slept on it. Within seconds I was asleep. But within minutes someone woke me up to tell me that we had to leave. So disappointing. It is so much fun to sleep on a rock with your backpack under your head!!!!
Our initial journey was through the bushes that have grown around there. And I was still thinking about the huge rocks we had climbed while coming. Ascending part was easy, but descending wouldn’t be. Then we reached the place of that small tea tent (or tea shop). The right turn at this point would take us on the path that we took while coming. But our guides turned left. We were taking totally different way, and I was happy about it. The path was good, and under full sunlight, we had no trouble in trekking. As we trekked, we could see the Kalavara Halli (Halli = village in Kannada) lying at the bottom of the hill. We could see vast land filled with rocks, and beyond that the Bangalore city. And soon we were back at the temple from where we had started our trek. Pongal and tea were waiting for us. Though I didn’t eat anything, I had a tumbler of tea. So refreshing it was!!! After all the trekkers reached, we boarded the bus and our return journey to Bangalore had begun.
And throughout the trek, not a single leech bothered us!!!
And we were already thinking of what to do after going back. Thomas suggested that we go to Coffee House on MG Road for our midday snack. I immediately agreed. Where else on MG Road would you get snacks that you can eat to your heart's, mind's, soul's and stomach's content and still pay a bill in 2 figures? I convinced Murugesh and Suraj to join us. Thomas decided to ride pillion with Murugesh, which would be his first bike ride in India.
So we went to Raghavendra's apartment where we had parked our bikes, and went to Coffee House, filled our bellies and went to our homes.

Kemmannugundi

6th August 2007

Another month, another journey. This time to Kemmannugundi, in our own Karnataka. And this one was without Ramesh and Shivanand, who are usually there on the road with me. It was with a totally different bunch of people. We were seven guys this time, Praveen Madhukar, Conrad, Allen, Nithesh, Bejoy, my brother Roshan and guess who? ME!!!!
Conrad, Allen, Nithesh and Bejoy were so excited about this trip that Conrad would call me everyday to ask about the arrangements. Bejoy had already applied for leave for Saturday. Never before have I seen such an enthusiasm!!!
I had contacted Babu from Kemmannugundi (whose contact I got through another friend, Prathibha). Babu had made arrangements for a jeep to roam around (his own) and a big room in a guest house.
So on Friday morning, these four guys came to my place soon after the clock struck 6. As Roshan and I had woken up just five minutes before, it took us some time to get ready. As usual, I never pack things until five minutes before leaving!!! After much getting cursed by these guys (obviously!! They had to wait for some twenty minutes!!!), we left my place at 6.30 AM, had breakfast at Domlur (obviously, at Shanti Sagar) while waiting for Praveen, and once he came, we were on the road.
Through MG road, Minsk Square, Mekhri circle, Kavery Theatre and Sadashiv Nagar, we reached Yashwantpur. Thence it is a straight road (Bangalore to Pune road) to Tumkur. We stopped for tea at Arsikere. Praveen saw a rooster and a buffalo and somehow managed to go very close to them and get their snaps. Both these animals, though initially shy, posed for the photographs. Then we headed towards Birur, stopping occasionally. Allen had brought a box of chicken curry which we finished within two minutes, somewhere on the way.
From Birur, we took the diversion to Lingadahalli. It is a narrow road, with fields of corn and sunflowers on both sides of the road. Though the road is bad, the scenary is really eye-catching. At a distance, on one of the hills, we could see a falls. Though I am not sure, I think it is one of the earliest steps of Kalhatti Falls (coincidentally, last Sunday's Times of India had an article on this!!). I have been told that this Falls falls in ten steps. Anyway this place was pretty far from where were. We stopped and went into a sunflower field. Ugh, the farmers had put big branches of thorny plants. After crossing this barrier somehow, we went into the fields. Luckily the people working in those fields didn’t chase us away. We also found a tamarind tree and ate a few too. So after a photo session, we were back on our bikes.
Soon we were climbing the ghats towards Kemmannugundi. We took a diversion (1 km only) to Kalhatti temple, to see a part of the falls. A badly maintained place, with people making money in the name of God. You have to pay for bike parking (2 Rs) and even for keeping your footwear (1 Re). It is pretty disgusting to see plastic bags, Coke/Pepsi bottles and paper cups stuck between the rocks. I wonder what these people do with all the money they get!!!
We were still 20 km from Kemmannugundi, and we were about two hours behind schedule. So we were off towards Kemmannugundi. We reached there at 2 PM, met Babu, had our meal at the canteen in the guest house which he showed us and went into our room. It was a decent one. With eight cots and two toilets, it was worth its rent. That is 600 Rs a night. Then Babu came with his jeep and we headed towards Hebbe Falls.
Babu had no problem in driving to Hebbe, though it was raining heavily, visibility was about 10 metres (at 4 PM!!!) and the road was, well, non-existent. Babu said the temperature was 4 degree C, but I don’t think it was that low. But I am sure it was below 10 degrees. When the rain reduced, we stopped, had a photography session and continued towards Hebbe. The ride itself was mindblowing, with misty greenery all around and some faint tall figures that looked like trees, it was a perfect horror movie setting, said Praveen. At one place, Babu took the jeep to extreme left to make way for an oncoming jeep and our jeep's left tires got stuck in the muck. Though we volunteered to get out of the jeep, Babu said it is not required. Then he put the gearbox in 4-wheel mode and accelerated. The jeep moved as if it was a normal road!!! It was the first time I was actually seeing the power of a jeep. Loaded with eight people, it came out so easily from that ditch!!!!
At a certain place, Babu stopped and told us how to trek towards the Falls. Within a few minutes of our foot journey, we came across an overflowing stream. Though initially skeptic, we crossed it. The water was thigh-high. Within a few ten metres, another part of the same stream. Cross that and in few moments, another part of the stream!!! Deciding that we would turn back if we had to cross the stream again, we crossed this section too. I felt this was the toughest part of the stream to cross. By the time we crossed this, many of us had fallen into water. Bejoy fell at least five times I think!!! But we could not afford to let Conrad fall. In his bag were all our cameras, mobiles and wallets!!!
And now we could hear the deafening sound of the falls. Soon it was in our sight. HOLY $#%&!!!! I had never seen such a magnificent falls before!!!! Water was falling from about 50 metres, and after hitting the rocks, the water droplets would fly horizontally for quite a distance. We stood with our backs to the falls and spat. And our spits were flying for at least three seconds before falling!!!! There was no way I could take photographs using my camera. However, Nithesh the brave man took out his mobile and recorded a video of the falls.
After some time, were heading back to the jeep. Crossing the stream sections, we reached the place where Babu was waiting for us. Got rid of the leeches using salt, and now we were climbing up towards Kemmannugundi. It was getting dark and clouds were closing in. the fog was thick and visibility was reducing. But no rain. So another photo session. And we reached our guest house at around 6.30. Babu said it ok to go to Z-point, but we weren't really interested. We were tired. Babu said he can arrange for non-veg food and drinks (both of which aren't available in Kemmannugundi). So we asked him to get some chicken curry, chapatis, vegetable curry, rasam and of course, whisky (Royal Challenge).
While waiting for the food and drink to arrive, Praveen took out his Gudang Garam (for those who don’t know: an Indonesian cigarette made not just from tobacco, but also from other spices, such as cinnamon, cardomom, cloves etc. Available in Manipal for pretty less price) and we warmed up with that. Then Allen took out his half bottle of Signature (whisky) and soon we were warming ourselves up pretty well. Then our food and whisky came. By this time Bejoy was fast asleep. And we were troubling Allen all the while (as usual).
After a decent meal, we were off to sleep at around midnight. The meal was a candlelight one. The power was there only for a couple of hours or so. So most of our mobiles were off. It seems that the power comes there only for a couple of hours everyday. So little power for a place that is so close to Karnataka's first hydroeletric power station!!!
Sunday morning, it was time for us to pack our bags. After finishing packing by 9, we had breakfast (pulav and poori). And after settling the dues, we headed towards Chikmagalur. This is one of the best rides in my life. Not a very bad road, mist all around, visibility getting lesser with time, cold that is determined to make you numb, raindrops that are slashing on your face like needles, water that is shrinking your skin and still it was a fun to ride. It is risky too, with a green hill on one side of the road and a green cliff on the other. For about twenty km, hardly any humans could be seen.
After a climb, we came to the junction of the Kemmannugundi main road and Bababudangiri road. We had no intention to go to Bababudangiri, as we had no time. So we went through the ghats and entered the Chikmagalur district, had some tea. Praveen said tea was never so much welcome in his life. Quite true was it for all of us!!! We held the glasses tighly in our hands, hoping to get rid of the shrinks on our palms. Continuing, we came to another junction. We took the road that went up towards Mullayyanagiri. This road goes almost to the peak of Mullayyanagiri. The peak is 1925 metres above sea level. When we were riding, two guys followed us on their bike. When we came to the end of the tarred road, we stopped our bikes. It was raining heavily and the cold was unbearable. All of us were shivering from top to bottom and we had no way to warm up ourselves. Water had seeped through our jackets long ago and more and more water was flowing inside our jackets. If I had squeezed my jacket, I am sure at least ten litres of water would come out!!
The two guys also had stopped with us and they were discussing among themselves whether to go to the peak or not. Their conversation seemed very artificial, as Praveen pointed out. Also, they were telling us to climb the peak giving the reason that it was the first time we were coming there and that they've been going there for twenty years. And also that no one would steal or harm our bikes. All these words of theirs made us realise that they had sinister intentions. So we decided to go back. And in a few minutes, we were back on the road to Chikmagalur.
We entered Chikmagalur, and the road to Hassan took us right through the busy area. We could not find a non-veg hotel, so we continued towards Hassan. Do you know, even Chikmagalur has a Nilgiri's supermarket!!!! And we saw plenty big brand names on the shop boards.. My oh my!! I didn’t know Chikmagalur was this improved!!!! The only time I had been there was more than ten years ago!!! I had always thought that it is one hilly place full of estates.
The road to Hassan is very good. Neatly tarred and well maintained. We reached Hassan at around 2.30. through out our trip, rain gave us company. In Hassan, we stopped at a hotel for snacks. By this time we were totally drenched. The place where we sat in the hotel was filled with water, as if it had rained inside the hotel.
The rest of the trip was eventless. And we all guys drifted apart. By now the rain had stopped completely, and it was getting dark. Allen and Conrad had gone way ahead. Then I stopped once for refuelling. When I got back on the road, I met Praveen riding alone on his CD 100. then I caught up with Bejoy and Nithesh. Once I reached Yashwantpur, I had lost contact with all the other guys. I reached home at about 9, had a quick bath and then slept until today morning.

Bike ride to Yercaud

Hi folks.
I am back again, from another road trip.

Let me begin. Ramesh and I decided a few days ago to go on another roadtrip, as it had been a whole five months since our last trip (Coorg one). So we called all friends. Ultimately, when the Saturday of the trip arrived, only four guys were ready: Shivanand, Gurunandan, Ramesh and I. What stops us? Not even heavy rains.
Though we guys had decided to leave Bangalore by 6 AM, as usual, it got delayed by a few hours. So we guys met up at Silkboard junction at almost 8 AM. Ramesh on his Pulsar, Guru on his Splendor, Shiv and myself on Shiv's Pulsar. It was cold and slightly drizzling. Perfect weather that we wanted. There was already enough traffic on Hosur road towards ITPL. Plenty trucks. I had already got some warnings from friends/colleagues about the number of trucks that ply on that road. We had to be extra careful in those slippery conditions.
Soon we entered the TN border and we were at Hosur within an hour. It was raining and the water was brown, probably because of the pollutants thrown into the atmosphere by all those industries there. Our jackets, clothes and bikes turned brown, thanks to this rain.
As Ramesh and Shiv had not yet had the pleasure of having breakfast, we decided to stop. We couldn’t find any decent hotel on the Hosur main road. We didn’t want to go into the town, so we stopped at a roadside hotel. After three rounds of breakfast (consisting of vada, dosa and bulls-eye; again reminding me of the phrase "I love vada"), we were off again, towards Krishnagiri.
This stretch of the road is the 2nd best road I have ever seen. No junctions, and no way to take U-turns. On the way, we found a monkey lying in the middle of the road, probably hit by a vehicle. Guru decided to help it. He lifted it and brought to the side of the road. However, he couldn’t save its life. Something tragic here.
We continued, and crossed the toll-booth at Krishnagiri. 2 wheelers need not pay any fee here. After riding over an hour, we reached Dharmapuri. This is another small town through which the main road goes. But by this time, the 4-lane road had reduced to 2 lanes. And the traffic was a bit heavy too. The process of widening the road to 4 lanes is still under progress, and might take a few years for completion (few years because it is not a short span of road that is being widened. Widening is going on right from Dharmapuri till Salem - that's 100 km!!!!).
After getting over a traffic jam in Dharmapuri, we continued further towards Salem. This part of the road goes through the ghats. Somewhere here, Shivanand asked me to ride, as he was tired. And I rode the bike for the rest of the day. The view from these ghats is mindblowing. You can feel a change in the climate. However, the menacing buses (that connect Bangalore, Hosur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri and Salem) soon bring you to reality. Over the ghats, roads aren't in good condition for a few small stretches, and repair work is going on. You gotta go slow. This rule doesn’t seem to be applicable to these buses though!!! Not much different from Bangalore, isn't it?
By this time, the 3 bikes were in 3 different locations and no one had any idea of where other two were. Ramesh was riding very cautiously (hardly exceeding 60kmph!!!) and was far behind us. So we waited at a police checkpost over the ghats. Here we shared biscuits and water. And then we continued towards Salem.
Soon we were at Salem. A small city, you can say. We had our lunch at a vegetarian restaurant there. After spending some time relaxing, we continued towards Yercaud, which is about 30km from there. After we found the milestone that said '21km to Yercaud', the climb towards the hill station began. It reminded me of Agumbe in Karnataka. Salem's weather was hot, and now we could feel the sudden change in the temperature as we climbed. The road is narrow, but well maintained. There are quite a few hairpin bends. But hardly any places to pull over and relax. And as you keep climbing, you find a few boards showing you the altitude of that location.
At one of the hairpin bends, Ramesh skidded and got slightly injured. The bike got injured more. So when we reached, we found out one place where the guy repaired the bike to some extent. We couldn’t find any fullfledged garages there. There are quite a few fuel stations though. And yes, petrol is about 3 Rs per litre cheaper in TN compared to Karnataka!!!
The hour hand was approaching 5, and we had to find a place to rest our heads at night. After all this riding, we deserved a pleasant sleep. There are quite a few good resorts there. We started enquiring in all these places. We were hoping to find a cottage for ourselves. Cottages are so cheap there. Before taxes, a cottage rent starts with 1000 Rs per day!!! I felt it was pretty cheap. Sadly, luck had played a villainous role on us here. We couldn’t find any cottage. Leave alone cottage, we couldn’t even find a single room in these resorts. There is a 3 star hotel there, called The Grand Palace, at the top of a hill. But we didn’t want to try our luck there. We are poor bike riders you see.
Finally, we found a spacious room in a place called KONGU RESORT. No no, it is not a resort at all. It doesn’t look like the businessmen here really know the meaning of 'resort' and 'cottage'. The real resorts have real cottages, so even these small hotels (there are at least 30 such hotels!!!!!) call themselves resorts and cottages!!!!! The Kongu guy turned out to be a very stingy one. He refused to give us more than 2 towels. He didn’t even give us soap and drinking water.
Time was ticking. But it wasn't dark yet. So we thought we'd explore this place as much as possible, leaving as less as possible for the next day. We had already spent quite a time looking for a room. There are quite a few 'tourist spots' around, and none are far off, if you have a vehicle. Again it depends on the resort you are staying in. there are resorts that are quite far off from the centre of Yercaud.
So we decided to visit Pagoda Point first. It is at the top of a hill. And it gives a scenic view of the whole Salem city. The winds were pretty strong and it was drizzling. We had some butta (corn ears) and some fruits here. No warm items (bajji or tea) available here. After spending some time here, we decided to go to Lady's Seat. This is in another direction. On the way we found a board that read 'ornamental lake'. Curious, we went to see what it is. Huh!!! Just another lake!!!!
I must say, no point in going to see different lakes here. Nothing great about any of these lakes. We have plenty lakes in Bangalore right!!! The difference is, Yercaud lakes ain't that polluted yet... There is one lake at the centre of Yercaud where you can hire boats or go on a boat ride.
Anyway, we were least interested in boats, so we went towards Lady's Seat. It is another high point from where you can see the Salem city. The view is not much different from the view of Pagoda Point. However, here some roadside shops sell hot snacks like bajji. So we had a few rounds of banana bajji, chilli bajji and onion bajji. Guru went further to check out the Gent's seat, that is a few metres higher than lady's seat. He said the view is almost the same as from Lady's Seat.
By now it was dark, and we had to return to our hotels. Guru went ahead. Rest of went together. And when we reached the centre of Yercaud, we realised that we had lost our way and had taken a different route!!! No sign of Guru. After waiting for a few minutes, he appeared, from a totally different direction!!!! He had drifted too much farther from our original route, and taken a completely different route!!! Luckily we were all safe...
After packing up some food and water, we went back to our room. I wanted to take bath. The hotel owner said the geyser is on. Ramesh told me which is the tap for hot water. I kept the tap on and waited till eternity. Hot water never came. Cursing the hotel owner, I took bath in that cold cold water.
Then we had our usual chat, while sipping Black Dog (no points for guessing what it is!!!). Then supper. Luckily the hotel owner hadn't missed out to give an extra bed. Soon the other three guys were snoring. But these folks didn’t allow me to switch on the fan. I didn’t feel that it was very cold outside. I actually was feeling pretty warm. It was around 11 PM then.
When I woke up at 8.30 AM, Guru and Ramesh were already awake. And they had discovered that the hot water tap was not the one Ramesh had told me about the previous day. So Guru got a chance to bathe in warm water. And I was cursing Ramesh all the while.
Then Guru left to visit Shevaroy Temple, which is at the top of another hill. Meanwhile, we 3 guys finished our breakfast of poori and vada (again vada, huh!!!) and were ready to leave. After Guru returned, we packed our bags. Then we went towards Kiliyur falls. WHAT A BAD IDEA!!!! First of all, after parking the bikes, there is a trek for half an hour. The path is pretty bad. On one part of the way there is a fence. And the fence has not only barb wires, but also a strip of iron with sharp teeth on it (like a hacksaw). The path is steep and if you fall, the first thing that comes to your mind is to grab whatever is available. And what is available, the hacksaw teeth!!!! Luckily we managed to stay away from the fence (fulfilling the intention of the fence-builder, who owns the other part of the land). As we continued, we found a few huge trees across the steep path. I somehow managed to climb over the trees and cross them while the other guys used the small gap under the trees to go to the other side. Before crossing the trees, we even had the idea of returning, because the steep path was too irritating. But then Guru had already thrown his slippers to the other side before going under the tree. So he had to go to the other side anyway. We too went. And after going down further, we reached the falls. It was a major disappointment. I think my pet dog can pee more than that water.
HAHAHAHAHA, I am just kidding. I don’t have a pet dog.
Immediately we decided to return. And now it was a steep climb. A very tiring one, as we guys, except Ramesh, aren't used to exercising :-D.
Somehow managed to reach the top. Immediately all of us lied down on the road for ten minutes, trying to get our breath back. Then we returned to our "resort", took our luggage, and said good-bye to Yercaud. Time for 20km downhill ride. Guru and I (I was riding Shiv's bike all the while you see) switched off our engines. Ramesh didn’t. soon the gravity helped us cruise at more than 40 kmph, FREE OF COST!!!! I had to start the engine in two places, to overtake a bus and a Tata Sumo filled with a few drunks. We didn’t want to take any risk while overtaking.
And we were at Salem again. Back to the hot climate. The dust in Salem is strange. The particles are really huge, and you can feel them hitting agaist you when there is a wind. They make real noise when they hit the helmet!!!!
We stopped at Hotel Green Park (really good hotel) for our lunch. We had not done anything great with our food so far. So we (except Guru, who is a vegetarian) ordered all types of non-veg available there (sea-food in the form of crabs and prawns, pork, chicken and mutton). The quantity was really huge. Quite different from the general custom of serving less quantity and charging less. Here the charge was more and quantity was more. And the table (actually meant for six people) was filled with food. There was no more space. But soon the contents of the plates disappeared. Though we couldn’t finish all, we actually managed to eat almost twice of our usual quantity!!!
Now the ride back. As usual, Guru led the way. Just before Dharmapuri, we saw Guru waving at us. He said he asked a police officer there and found a new route to Bangalore that would save us 20km. So we returned via Palacode and Rayakkottai. But we missed the fun of that Krishnagiri-Hosur highway. After a pleasant ride through the villages and small towns of TN, we reached Hosur at dusk. Guru went off ahead to his house. We 3 guys dined at Bommasandra and went to our respective houses for a hot hot hot water bath and a pleasant sleep.

Mumbai Trip To Attend Wilson's Wedding

It was the 1st of February. Dawson and I reached kalasipalya at about6.45 pm and we boarded the bus. Finally the bus left at 7.30.. And soonthe first trouble started.. A drunk passenger, who was in his mid 20s Iguess, would ask for stops every now and then for vomitting. Finally,after other passengers persisted, this fellow was asked to go by thenext bus. Once he was out of the bus, the journey was smooth.Then the bus crew played the movie BABUL (starring Big B, Hema, Salman,Rani, John and others). Stopped somewhere outside tumkur for dinner, themovie was not yet over then. There we bought a few lays chips. That"bugger" charged us 3 rs extra, saying that it is their charge over MRP.Such illegal things happen, and we can't even protest.Then the movie continued. I learnt that the moral of the movie is 'donot use your mobile phone while crossing the road' and 'do not cross theroad without looking on both sides and making sure that the road isempty'. Perhaps, if you follow such a rule, you will never be able tocross a road, in Bangalore at least!!!Soon after the movie was over, Dawson and I had slipped into deep sleep.I woke up next only in the morning when the driver stopped forbreakfast. After stepping onto Maharashtra soil for the soil for thefirst time, I had a breakfast of idli-vada with tea.Then the journey continued, with GURU being played... Much more pleasantit was, compared to the movie we were forced to watch the previousnight. The sad thing is, I couldn't enjoy the scenic beauty of thenature (on the Mumbai-Pune expressway) because I couldn't stop myselffrom watching GURU.Finally we entered Mumbai. We alighted at Sion and hired a taxi to DadarEast Train Station. Amogh Gokhale told us that he'd be there in half anhour. True to his time, he came exactly 55 minutes late, and soon wewere on a train to Thane. From Thane station, we hired an autorickshawto Amogh's house. And once we reached his house, we were welcomed by twosleeping beauties: Amar and Kishore.We had a typical Marathi lunch at Amogh's house, cooked probably byAmogh's grandma (and servant Lata, of course!!). We were quite attractedtowards Amogh's niece Anushka (who has just started walking on twolegs). The cute little doll seemed afraid of me initially (so sad, boohoo).Soon (not really!!!) we were ready to go to attend Willy's ROCE. Somehowwe woke up the sleeping beauties and forced them to get ready. We leftat around 7.30 PM for the taxi stand. Amogh and Kishore went together onone auto, while Dawson, Amar and I hired another. Somehow we 3 lost theother 2, and when we reached the taxi stand, those guys were already ontheir way to Jogeshwari (where Wilson's house is). And our taxiwalarefused to take us through the city, citing that he gets pain all overhis body by pressing clutch and changing gears way too often. He offeredus to take from some highway outside the city. Like idiots we agreed.Finally we reached at 10 PM to Willy's place. After getting the firstCHOONA (510 Rs fare for the taxi), we entered Willy's house. The rocewas on the terrace of the apartment complex, so Willy was there. We wereoffered Vat 69 by Willy's brother-in-law (Willy's sister Wilma'shusband). Couldn't resist it. After having two rounds, we went and metWilly and rest of the guys who were at the terrace.As midnight arrived, it was a sweet surprise for Sanveer. His birthdaybeing on 3rd Feb, Willy had arranged a cake for him to cut. The momentSannu saw the cake, a pleasant smile appeared on his face. It lastedonly for a few moments. Once he realised how his next half an hour wouldbe, that smile disappeared and his face turned into a painful one. Andwe sang as he cut the cake. Once the cake was cut, we grabbed him, askedhim to take off his kurta, and celebrated his birthday in true MITstyle, much to the astonishment of the elderly guests..And then we 5 guys hired two autorickshaws back to Thane, to Amogh'splace. After travelling more than an hour on the traffic-less (read andunderstand in the Mumbai context), we reached Amogh's house at around 2AM. Soon we had slipped into sleep, after much argument about who willsleep on the 2 beds, and who will sleep on the floor. Poor Amarrequested us, "please consider me to sleep on the bed man.. US returnedman..".. So he slept right below the A/C. the fan also was turned on tothe maximum.In the morning, when I woke up at 6.30, my nose was blocked. Luckily thefan and A/C both were off by this time. I slept again, to wake up at 10.soon (again, not really!!!) we were ready to go out. It was the time forlunch. We left at 12.15 from the house. We requested Amogh to take us toa place that is neither cheap, nor very costly. Well, I guess we shouldhave mentioned the phrase "for our standards". We didn't. so we landedup at Moni's. For Amogh, it was cheap, but for us,,,,,, not really!!!After having a nice meal, we went for a round into the city, and also toa small round in Sanjay Gandhi National Park. After a susu at suicidepoint, we went back to the house. Dawson and I went to make a fewtelephone calls (to friends and relatives in mumbai). When we returnedabout 45 minutes later, we found the sleeping beauties. Somehow we wokethem up and got them ready for marriage. Dawson and I got ourselves intofullfledged suites, while Amogh wore a blazer. Kishore and Amar wokeformal clothes, and we left from the house at 5. The nuptials weresupposed to be at 5.30 at Vidyavihar. We managed to reach there 10minutes later, to find that the mass hadn't started yet. Soon the massstarted, and Dawson and I were into praying mood. And mass went on.. Itwas kind of boring for other guys until a lady (bride's 2nd cousin, wegot to know later) wearing a backless gown and an artificial tattoo onher right shoulder, came and sat 2 rows in front of us..From then onwards, we had one heck of a time. Amar, who was carrying asony cybershot professional camera, zoomed to the extent possible,taking the photographs of her uncovered back and her tattoo..After the mass, we had to wait for an hour for the party to begin, asthe next mass (the regular Sunday mass) had started in the church. Andwhen the party began, again it was boring time. It was time for thebridal march and the bridal dance.. And none of us 15 odd guys had anyfemale partners.And none of us morons were even bothered to ask the ladies around.Probably because we were already discouraged by the fact that the mostbeautiful lady in the party hall (another lady with spaghetti straps)was already married.. Of course, she wasn't with her husband, but shewas with her in-laws.. So discouraging!!!And there were other ladies too, and even the MC was asking us to goahead and ask for females... We didn't bother.. We ignored the MCbecause that @@$%#$@# had called us "lonely single boys" earlier.. Allof us were planning to whack the MC..After the bridal dance, it was the time for the bride to change fromwhite to red, and it was the time of us to get some tonic.So we went to the bar near to the church.Unfortunately, no place in the bar.Fortunately, the bar belonged to mangaloreans.. Tulu speaking..Still more fortunately, there was space in their attic.Unfortunately, the attic was their storage area..Fortunately, there was a table and a few stools and a table fan.Unfortunately, the fan didn't have grills.Fortunately, none of us were interested in the fan.So whiskey and beer flowed... In fifteen minutes, we were back to theparty hall..Just as we reached, the 'baila' began with the song 'maria pitaashe' ofremo being played first..Then we started off suddenly, and went on and on and on.....And then when the bride returned in red, again another small dance, andthis time that 'bouquet throwing' happened..It is the usual trend during weddings that groom and bride are encircledby ladies moving to the left and gents moving to the right in 2different circles (get the picture?).. Then the lady throws her bouquetand whichever lady catches it is considered as the next bride.. Samething is done with guys when groom throws the bouquet.. Not bouquetreally, but a small piece of flower that the groom wears on the leftcollar of his suit (guys don't carry bouquets during weddings!!!)..So this lady, pamela joseph, caught the bride's bouquet and me, rohanjohn fernandes, caught the guy's flower..So the MC anounced that we are the next couple.. And asked me to kissher..I did!! (on her cheeks though ;-) )..Then there was one birthday boy among us.. So we made him cut the cakeright in front of the whole crowd. And then gave him bumps..Our cameraman (the guy with professional camera) also kicked.This actually irked one of the ladies (the mother of another guy amongus) there who couldn't understand why a meagre cameraman was kicking..The kicking part should be done only by the friends.. Apparently, sheeven wanted to go and shout at him!!!(she told all this to her son the next day and he told us this)..The problem was, the camera guy being a hindu, wasn't wearing a suit,while all of us were wearing.. And his professional camera added fuel toher ire!!!After the party, we went back and slept off..Sunday morning I got up early and with another guy, went to borivli..From there, the other guy went his way, and I went mine..We 5 guys actually left from home together.. Went to some kunjvihar inthane and had misal paav... It was so spicy that its after effects arestill there in me!!!Dawson had already left for his aunt's house in dombivli.And I went to my aunt's house and she served me with rice, fish curry,fish fry, veg cutlets, and soup..Then she took me out to a shopping mall, and bought me a pepe t shirt, apepe jeans and a t shirt for my bro.. And also she bought short pantsand sweets for me.. (she is my dad's elder sister, and has no kids.. Sowe are her kids ;-) )..Bindaas ;-)Meanwhile, dawson and another guy kept on informing me about the delaysof our flight (which ultimately departed two hours and a quarter laterthan scheduled).At 9, I left borivli for airport with another friend who stayed inborivli itself..Reached the airport, and met another 2 guys also.. Including dawson, whonever went to dombivli even after his uncle went to dombivli trainstation to pick him up!!! Apparently there were no fast local trains, soslow local trains were overcrowded and delayed too.. Got out of the airport at 2, after our luggage took over 20 minutes to reach us..

Walked into the restaurant inside the airport. I had mixed fried rice, and the rest had chicken biryani. After sharing and rekindling MIT memories, we hired a prepaid taxi and went to our respective houses.

THE END........

A bike ride to Coorg and back

Another long weekend was coming up and I didn’t want to stay in Bangalore. I didn’t want to go to Mangalore because I had just returned from there 5 days ago after a 2 week vacation. So, as usual, Ramesh and I thought we'd ride somewhere. Our options were Coorg, Madumalai, Yeracaud and Wayanad. When I asked everyone I knew, 2 of my other friends, Shivanand and Ashith (who stay together and work together), said they'd join. Then Shivanand's colleague Bala too joined us.Bala and I stayed at Shivanand's house overnight. Though our initial plan was to leave the house at 5 AM, it was past 7 AM when we really got out of the house!!! I had got up at 5 AM itself, after a short 2 hour sleep (note: I had to attend a bachelor's party the previous night). Made some egg bhurji. There were a few dried chapatis which we somehow managed to swallow with egg bhurji.I had to leave my bike at Shivanand's place (though I had a full tank of petrol) because of Shivanand's Pulsar 150 DTSi and Ashith's Pulsar 180 DTSi.We joined Ramesh at MG Road-Kasturba junction (as he had to come from Kundalahalli). As we were waiting for Ramesh, Ashith went ahead to fuel his bike. As he rode alone, leaving the 3 of us, when Ramesh arrived, we 4 went to Shell fuel station to catch up with Ashith. Because we 4 had settled in 2 bikes, Ashith's bike became the good carrier for the rest of the journey. Each of us was carrying a backpack. Ramesh had a rope, and so we tied up 2 bags on Ashith's bike, and carried the rest.We crossed Hudson circle at 8 AM. And we were speeding on Mysore road. Bala riding pillion with Shivanand, I riding pillion with Ramesh, and Ashith riding alone. I would say that the bike Pulsar is very unergonomically designed for the pillion rider. The seat is narrow (to give sleaky looks), giving lot of problems for people like me who are most graciously and most generously blessed by our creator. Luckily, so far no bad roads, and not much traffic. Except a lot of trucks going on the rightmost part of the road with high speed (relative to trucks, of course!!), and of course the numbness crawling into the pillion riders behinds, we had no problems.So we stopped somewhere in between. 3 of the guys wanted to take leaks. And I, the evil guy, took their photographs. Bala decided not to take a leak because of me :-)). Then we stopped at the usual stop-point, Kamath Lokaruchi. Refueled ourselves and continued further. And reached Srirangapatna soon. After enquiring with some people, found the bypass (to go to Coorg without entering Mysore city) and continued on it. When we reached Hunasur, we realized that we have no place to stay. We were too lazy to arrange one so far. I had a few numbers given by a couple of colleagues. When we contacted them, they said they don’t have space for 5 guys, but gave further contacts. One person had space for us, but at the cost of 3,500 Rs per night!!! Forget it!!! Then Ramesh called up to the place where he had stayed 3 years ago (what was he doing so far!!! He was thinking that we wouldn’t like that place.. Which we proved wrong later). As this man, Mr Poonacha, had space for us, we decided to go there. He said he'll give a dormitary kind of area. It didn’t sound impressive, but we thought it's ok for 1600 Rs per night for 5 people.We couldn’t take the Nagarahole route, as bikes are banned from going on that road (idiots!!! Just because the route goes to forests, they don’t want bikes to go). So we went through another route (I don’t remember the order in which the places came, so I am not going to tell you. If you want, I have the visiting card of the landlord at whose house we stayed :-D). Bought DSP Black on the way, as we couldn’t get any Scotch or even malt whiskey (for those who don’t know, it is a whiskey). We stopped for lunch (at Gonikoppa I think). Had little bit beer, lotsa pork chilli and chicken (awesome it was!!) and continued further. Soon we arrived at Iruppu falls. We decided to go to the falls before going to the house, because we knew we wouldn’t have energy to go out of the house. We had to purchase the tickets from the forest office there (some minimal fee). The forest officer was nice enough to let us leave all our baggage there. After walking .75 km (it is written there, and the path is not good at all. I mean, they've put cement and all and have made a nice path. I wanted those natural, stone and grass filled paths that tear your exposed skin), we reached the falls. It is very shallow and you can easily play in the water. You don’t even have to fear about getting drowned. But none of us had any mood to get into the water. After spending some time, we went to our guest house.And lo and behold!!! What a suite we got!! A huge hall with a sofa and 8 well-cushioned chairs, a big table, lot of books (who cares!!!) and decorations inside. The 3 sides of this room were filled with windows, through which we could see Mr Poonacha's estate outside. The sleeping room had a double bed and a single bed, had attached toilet (western)/bathroom. What more did we want? Nothing. We didn’t want the tv, we didn’t want to be connected to the external world. All the guys except me had Hutch connection, so were completely eliminated from the rest of the world (most obvious, isn't it?). I had a range of just 1 stick.. Just in case, you know...Chandru (the servant for Mr Poonacha) served us with tea. I don’t want to talk about its quality, do I? (of course, we were charged for the tea!!). Chandru said dinner would be served at 9 PM. So we got refreshed and opened our DSP Black. Chandru got us some Haldiram's snacks, Kinley soda and glass tumblers (only the last one was free :-D). As the whiskey started mingling with our blood and go into our brains, our brains returned to normal. We got a few bright ideas which would help the langauge of English and also the world soceity in a big way. For example, we replaced the word EMPLOY with that "four letter word dreaded by our elders, but is most common during swears" and made sentences. Words such as employment, employee, employer, unemployed, employable were all twisted and turned to give new meanings. Ideas such as having one employer with many employees and all were twisted beyond your wildest thoughts!!! Can someone help us put our thesis over the internet, please?Then Chandru called us for dinner. Oh man!!! Did we ever dream of having such a food?? First of all, everything that's on the table is unlimited. Pork in Coorg style, chicken masala, some peas curry, cabbage curry, sambar, chapatis and rice!! Everything more delicious that the other. We had thought that we'd lose 1 or 2 kgs during this trip, but now we realised that we would gain so much!!! After a sumptous dinner, and payasam (unfortunately, was the last one to have, so I got only 1/4th of a cup), we retired to sleep (but not before discussing further on the topic).Next morning, it was poori, dosa, bhaji and chutney for breakfast, with tea/coffee. I think we 5 guys ate 50+ pooris and 10+ dosas easily. I actually lost count of pooris after 12 :-)). Then Mr Poonacha suggested that we go to see the Tata's tea estate. He gave directions and soon we were in front of Tata Tea Estate. This part is called Glenlorna Estate. As the main gate was closed and no one was there to open the lock, we had to walk about 2 km to reach the factory. After getting permission from the factory manager, we went into the factory. A worker there took us all around and explained the process of making tea powder from the leaves. It is such a simple process, I didn’t expect this!!!! Then we bought lots of tea powder from there and went back to our guest house for lunch.We had asked for simple veg food for lunch. And there was simple veg food: 4 types of veg curries (cabbage, okra, dal, beans), chapatis and rice. And kheer for dessert. And then after lunch, we went to Nagarahole. We went till Kutta by bikes, and hired a jeep from there to go till the safari point. During safari, we started discussing about deer and mathematics (deer being so common there). I mentioned that there are so many deer because deer multiply very fast. Someone said, then we'll ask the multiplication table. Then I said, it is difficult for deer to calculate 1234 X 9234 because they don’t have fingers, unlike humans. So Shivanand came up with this bright idea that deer have only hooves and they can't move their hooves. So they calculate everything on base 4, one for each leg (hope you guys remember base 4, base 8, base 16 calculations and all). Then the disussion continued and we were laughing until the bus driver screamed at us and asked to to keep quiet.After a useless safari (got to see 2 peacocks, a few bisons and lots of deer; the deer there was like the street dogs of Bangalore, except that the deer bite only the vegetation and not the small children), we returned to our base. On the way I got this bright PJ: what do you call the waterfalls inside Nagarahole?? NAYAGARAHOLE.. HAHAHAHAHAWe reached our guest house at 7 PM, much earlier than we had thought. We had only little bit of whiskey left. Mr Poonacha suggested us to try the grape wine and banana wine prepared by his wife Beena. We tasted it and immediately purchased a bottle of each. Within a few minutes, we were drinking that in our rooms, together with chilli bhajji and tapioca chips (of Komal's Mangalore. They gave this to us probably because they got to know that 3 of us were Mangaloreans).Then time for dinner. Just like the previous day. Only the vegetarian curry was different. This night we had energy to roam around. So we stayed outside the house for some time, enjoying the cold weather. We wished we could stay there longer, but we had to return the next morning. And so we left that place after a breakfast which was very similar to the previous one, except that there were no pooris. Only dosas.We went to Balamuri on the way. Had some beer and fish and some bhelpuri. And then stopped at Kamath Lokaruchi and then reached Bangalore at around 8 PM, after riding 604 km all in all.Thanks to God, nothing went wrong seriously throughout our journey.