Chasing the clouds

Goa - Oct 2009

2010-10-03T04:42:00.000-07:00

This is our first official trip to Goa! (doesnt mean that we havent gone to Goa earlier or its something related to office!) Rains are at its peak and an evening start through Shimoga route isnt a good idea..but we are going through! The constant drizzle irritates till Shimoga. Once past and towards Sagar, the road was all for us..ofc, you cant expect any other ghosts to drive at 1am in that part of the world! The drive was just pleasant with all those good old hindi songs. In fact, the songs kept the rhythm nicely throughout this trip..like when in good mood, all the latest tamil/hindi/kannada songs.. in the calm night, classic old songs ..and when the conditions are irritating like rain or traffic, Eminem will give a moral support and keep our spirits at level.. :D ..and then while entering Goa, it has to be 'jing-jaka jing-jaka' !

ok..we reach Honnavar at around 3:30am..rain still blasting and we find a place to catch up some sleep. Morning after the breakfast at Kamat, we head towards Karwar..and its still raining. The blasting rain in that coastal stretch and sitting dry inside a car is somewhat weird..generally if it rains, we get wet. With only 3 more hours of drive left, playing all the new songs, and thinking where to have lunch in Goa, we are optimistic on the proceedings. But Murphy's law says "Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" and it did!! Land slide & road block! Come on, i am not driving towards Leh..but the fact is that, Karwar is close to hills and it seems like nonstop rains have created quite a few major landslides and blocked the path in several places..and the hot news is that there is no hope that it will be open by today.

With the mind game going on, we take the diversion for Yellapur thinking either to take Kaiga route or Dandeli route. Kaiga route again goes into remote ditches and with these landslides around, it will sure ditch our Goan hopes..so we head for Ambiga nagara!(doesnt mean that actress Ambiga was born here or something!) This route goes never ending with irritaing pot holes thrown generously! By now i have given the wheel to PKM and i am watching movies in his laptop! (dont ask me which movie etc!) PKM manages to clear the interior roads and reach the belgaum/goa highway and gives back the wheel to me. Now this particular infamous stretch of the road is keeping its prime condition. The combo is , Trucks+Red slush+pot holes! ,and you get this for 20 odd kms taking an hour and half with Eminem trying hard to keep up the spirits! Everything is Red.. the trucks/plants/trees/my car/road or track whatever you call that its all painted Red! You get out of the car to pee or something, they will paint you too!

We are out of the ghat section..still the road is twisting. Its 7:30 pm and it starts raining.(it doesnt mean that it wasnt raining in the recent past hours) Initially i was little down as its unknown road/rain/oncoming traffic etc..but you go as closer to Goa the road gets as better. Now i could see the rush of cars & SUVs entering Goa as its long weekend. Pumping music..blasting rain..zip/zap overtaking..the fun is back for the day! At some moment, overtaking long trucks & volvos together at one shot..and then at one point, 4 lengthy vehicles tailgating i dont know what they were..one shot overtaking with water splashing both sides raising above the car.. damn..we enter Goa! I have to thank that Vista guy who kept a nice company ripping all the way from Ponda till Calangute..till the cross where our resort located..! :D If not, we would have ended up stopping/asking in many places in that rain! I didnt see any other vehicle ripping like that in that condition and i was convinced that he is our breed entering Goa and WILL enter Calangute! :D

The resort guy had already made several calls in doubt..with his utter disbelief, we enter his place! Still raining and he went himself and gave what & all we wanted!
We see around his place..few cottages..a garden and swimming pool..all glowing in the rain! Beautiful place it is! We go out to the calangute market..stroll around a little..and pack our food and back!

The next two & half days we spent in Goa. I am going to finish it short on that and its just the usual customary stuff everybody does in Goa! You got to be there to feel it! :-) The next day we had a late breakfast..and spent most of the time in the pool. The pool water was recycled and getting cleaned as our entry to the resort marked the beginning of the season. In the afternoon, we went out to wash the car. and then went to calangute beach to have a walk around.

In the evening, we went towards Chapora fort. This is supposed to be a famous tourist spot with thousands of people coming down here. There are lots of movies shot here..the most known got the name 'dil cha tha hi' view point..and even the recent Golmaal 3 has a nice shot here with all especially Kareena showing the back! :D
But all said & done, this fort has its own uniqueness..you stay back for sunset..and stay even later..every single tourist leave the place and the whole fort standing on the hillock next to the sea shows its another face! Its so unique experience that i have always gone there and stayed back late. We even reached this fort by 9pm in one of our later trips and stayed there under moon light..its so wonderful.

Later we came back to Candolim beach and found a lone but happening shack on the beach. All the lights & music up and the firangis having their day. PKM is very satisfied to have the beach side dinner and i too enjoy the same. Post dinner, we got into beach in dark and had a mission to reach the view of the abandon ship! :D We did see it before we turn back! ..and it was around 12:30 AM.. if you think the day is over, you are wrong. We then head to our next destination..Sinquerim fort..supposed to be another famous touring spot but at this time of the day, you could expect only ghosts. All those lights from the Taj hotel nearby gives a night life to the fort. I dont know whether the fort is built little inside sea..or later sea came in.., but its so fantastic now. You sit on that 30 feet high fort wall..and still get drenched by the waves occasionally. Later we drive back to the resort but not really in a mood to go & sleep. PKM was on wheel, and the hindi songs are going on and we come across this batch of guys & girls tracking back after party all tired! The song goes in the car is 'Sohniye' and when we cross the girls the same stanza comes and we scream out of the window 'Sohniye..ohh Sohniyeeee'.. :P couple of girls were in all smile and one of them i could clearly see blushing! probably in their high school days they would have got this treatment..and now and in a place like Goa, i am sure they wouldnt have expected!

Ok..we are back to the resort and it must be around 1:30 am now..and do you think our day is over? No! we get into the pool!! The resort guy has installed a mechanism like if someone walks in the night near garden/pool, the light comes on..and after few seconds it goes off..and we were trying to walk like aliens to beat the system..in pool dress that is..god knows if he had a camera too..he would have had life time fun then!

The next day it was almost lunch time we had breakfast..and went to Calungute beach for lunch. A stroll around baga and we were back to the pool in the resort. Most of the evening was spent in the pool. In the night we again went to Anjuna & chapora..did some offroading with Activa trying to climb the hill.. :D on the way, we saw a church and spent sometime trying out night shots. Had lunch at Calangute and the trip was over. But not before getting into pool again by 1am before going to bed!

Next morning had a late start to Bangalore..pretty eventless..tired..except for the last stretch 'chitradurga to bangalore' between 2am to 4am ripping to glory.

Gokarna - Jul 2009

2010-10-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

4 of us did this trip in car on a Sat/Sun. Went to that infamous 'Mungaru Male view point' on top of jog falls..and then went to Unchalli falls..and then to Gokarna. I had drenched my Nokia in the sea water and it never switched-on after that. Guess what then..i got a water proof mobile now! :D

Thadiyandamol & Agumbe - Jul 2009

2010-09-30T11:59:00.000-07:00

This was a 3 day trip and we 3 of us did it. As usual, started right from office and got into super rain till mysore. Reached coorg late night, wet like those monkeys in the pic.. not before that incident, where our friend Nachu who was tailing patiently all the way, got excited once we entered madikeri..over took us in a fraction and rammed into the median. The next day early morning, we were off for the Thadiyandamol and Nachu was off as he was resting..and myself/Ravi proceeded.

The trek which was supposed to be very popular with 1000s of people jamming up every weekend, was free and no souls to hear around..thanks to the insane rain! With the fog blocking up right from the start, we didnt take any chance and found our guide in a humble old man who agreed to come with a big flawless smile. It was pouring all the way..the trek path turned to a water stream and we didnt complain! The poweR coke did the trick i guess!

It was a nice colourful refreshing hike and we had our cold puliyogare at the top. Later came back for a very late lunch at 5pm and decided to leave towards Agumbe..the next destination. It was still raining but we decided to keep moving as long as possible..and we stopped at this little nice town Mudbidri. Next day morning, reached Agumbe..to see those monkeys(in pic) and find us look no different from them!

Agumbe guest house was on repair..and the keeper gave his own house to stay..and thats new, that we got to stay in this old style malnad house with charcoal fire to keep us warm. It was still afternoon but we skipped our further hiking plans and decided to chat around in the warm house when its belting outside! The rain eases out and when we think of venturing out for dinner, the little boy says, 'it slows down only to start big'..and how true he is...Agumbe on its charm!

Next day, took it relaxed and made a late start to reach back bangalore!

Kodachadri / Gokarna - Apr2009

2010-06-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

started by 6:30am in the morning. there was a little confusion on how to enter the NICE road but once IN, it was a breeze. Soon crossed Nelamangala/Tumkur and proceeded towards Shimoga. The morning ride was refreshing and trip meter was running fast. Crossed Shimoga in the mid day hot sun and reached Sagar by around 12:30 for a delicious lunch consisting of Rice/Fish curry/Fish fry with few cups of curd and a glass of butter milk to go in.. :D Then enquired for the route to proceed..supposed to go towards Sikaripura and in somewhere between catch the ferry and proceed to Sampagatte. This part of the route from Sagar was new to me and the ferry part was ofc interesting. The road from sagar goes through vegetation, some villages and at the ferry point opens up a huge lake(check out Wikimapia how huge it is!).

Ferry took the bike and me to the opp shore and then proceeded to Sampagate. Had some local made 'Lemon Sarpath' which was pretty chill and tasted heavenly..took 2 bottles of it to tackle the hot sun. This part of the world used to be very remote but now there is a brand new road with speed breakers and KA tourism signboards stating Kodachadri with how many kms to go & all.. Kali yuga!! Soon i hit the much awaited jeep track..before that, crossed a small dam which i could make out from Wikimapia earlier. The jeep track was not so challenging since i am doing this thrid time here..only worry being not to hit the rock too much to avoid punchers. Reached the open plains by 5PM..this is a fav stopover place with a lot of wind blow!

With the jeep track on the right side leading to the Kodachadri temple, i took the walking trail on the left leading to a small peak. From the peak top, the trail proceeds on the ridge to the subsequent hills and i parked the bike there and proceeded on foot. Initially it was pretty hot and i was gasping but soon the clouds started gathering up. Again like the typical Kodachadri style, the fog & clouds started hitting from below. The scenary was dramatic.. similar to which comes in rajkumar duet songs like all dry & brown but they put artificial smoke to resemble fog. It was so similar now..the grass plains were very dry but the fog & cloud what you call taht i dont know was blasting..it was so creepy and unreal but i enjoyed it in full. After following the trail for some time through few small peaks, the view of the Varahi dam appeared.. again i could recognize that point from Wikimapia. The fog was flowing pretty fast throught the plains and i just sat there for a lot of time.. so unreal.

Later came down to pick the bike. Saw a group of 10 spirited students from shimoga coming by walk with all that shoutings and whistels. That tells me a calm kodachadri night is ruled out but i didnt mind much. Crossed them and reached the IB and picked the same room which i stayed last time as well. Went to that small hotel and had a chat with the people..had a nice hot food of rice & sambhar. Later the students who stayed along in IB had putup the camp fire infront..they were on high spirits dancing / shouting and all..i am sitting and watching both..their presence as well as the series of cold/calm /blue hills around. After some time, saw some series of torch lights at the distant and came to know that some 20 trekkers from blr are walking up the hill in night. Later went to sleep.

04Apr2009 Sat:
Got up early and i found myself walking on the hill by 6:15am. I was eagar to visit the Ganesha Guha. I somehow started liking this place from my last trip here. The morning walk was refreshing and took it slow enjoying every minute. Could see the set of people(the ones trekked previous night) sitting on the opp hill top waiting for the sunrise. But the sun came out of the clouds very late and shining. Went to temple and worshiped Shakarachariya. Then came down to the hotel and had breakfast of chapathi and curry which were made pretty fast just for me. Had a nice talk with the people and later checkout the place. Climbing down was uneventful and pretty hot / sweating. Came down the hills, went through that tiny road and reached the ferry point. The ferry guys were actually leaving to the opp shore but by seeing me they turned back with a big smile as they remembered me from previous day. Now the ferry was carrying just me and my bike. The ferry guys were talking to me with the usual questions 'coming from where' 'going where' etc..later they suggested me that riding alone must be boring, and i should be taking a girl along next time..and once the girl is on the back, the bike can sail at speeds staying like 90 / 100 / 90 / 100 with out any problems etc .. and i took them all with smile! :-) Clicked some nice shots of the lake. Later reached Sagar at around 12:15 and headed straight to the same hotel and yea.. Rice / Fish curry / Fish fry and lots of curd..!! :-)

Later at around 1:30, i was on the move towards Gokarna.. the ghat section after the Jog was nice to ride. The early morning trek and the heavy meal made me sleepy very much and i found it tough to stay on bike. Till Gokarna it was a fight with sleep and i reached the resort by 5pm. Immediatly hit the shower and cooled off little bit. Later in the evening went to the kudle beach view point and sat there till the dark.

05Apr2009 Sun:
Wanted to checkout few places around Oom beach before the sun gets hot...so got up early and started at around 6:30 Am. The ride to Oom beach in that morning hours was refreshing and i enjoyed it throughly. Next to kudle beach there is a small hill and there is a temple atop which i have been missing in all of my Gokarnar trips..so this time i headed straight there. The road went through bushes and ended...little offroading and then i reached the temple where no one was around. The view behind the temple was very nice as the sea in all 3 sides and the thick vegetation and the road in one side. Spent lots of time there in the top. Noticed a foreginer family little down inbetween the bushes..seems like they were trekking from Kudle to Oom and figuring out the way out around this hillock where i was standing in the top. They shouted for my help to show them the way ahead but i hardly could make out any as there were lots of bushes. Later they just disappeared down and i couldnt see them again..guess they figured out their way to Oom, even if not, it wouldnt be a big deal for them to climb up and catch the road. While coming back, noticed a local guy and his son picking wild berries in the bushes..he then gave me the cashew fruit to eat and then i realised the whole place is filled with caschew trees and its the season. :-) Bought few cashew fruits with nuts from him and i picked few myself on the way back.

Later i spent the mid day mostly sleeping and watching TV as it was pretty hot to go out. Later in the evening, had a bath and went to Oom beach. Walking on the evening beach is always a pleasure. I knew one of the beach shack over there make very good coffee and i orderd for one. It was so thick/strong and tasted very nice. Later reached the end of the Oom beach and climbed up the hill towards the Paradise beach. At the top most position, the view was very nice and i sat there for the sunset. Few of the foreginers also sitting in the other side of the hill watching the sunset. It seems like they are maintaing a custom that when they meet people at hill top relaxing, they say a friendly "Hello" while passing. Without knowing this, i scared the first guy who said "Hello" to me with a series of questions like "What? What do you want?" etc.. :D Later got the clue, and replied a friendly "Hi" whenever the passerby hippy says "Hello" :-)

Came back after dark and had one more round of coffee in the same place..walked slowly till the end of the beach. The beach was almost empty as the weekend is over..the moon was bright and it was a nice experienc to walk there. Came to bike and headed towards the Gokarna town at around 8:30PM. Its a very old town with classic old style shops and lengthy streets. Had a lazzy walk around checking out the shops one by one. Few shops have all sort of pooja items made in bronze and i picked few for my wife. Got some fruits and came back to the resort.

The next day morning took it slow..had a stroll around the resort..then had the breakfast of my favorite egg dosa and poori. Packed and left at around 10:30am. I knew the ride back home will be eventless and i just wanted to finish it off before its dark. Skipped the lunch.. took only few breaks and reached bangalore outskirts by sunset.
This was another relaxed and memorable ride with Kodachadri evening trek being the chilling experience.

Honeymoon - Nov2008

2010-05-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

Our marriage on 10thNov2008 and the Honeymoon trip was planned to start on 17thNov.Initially, both the side parents didnt like the idea of me taking the car driving myself all the trip. The convincing saga didnt land anywhere and i had to shift to Plan B..that is, still going ahead with the planned plan but 'behind the screen'.

05th Nov2009: i was relieved from the current project and i was left free to start my trip by 06th.
06th Nov Thursday:
Palio was fully loaded with dress & other stuffs related to marraige and the honey moon trip.It was around lunch time when i left blr towards mysore. Driving solo on a long trip gave me a chill. It was a smooth drive on blr-mysore stretch but it was just pretty hot as the sun was just opp through the windshield. Late lunch at mysore Kamat...gulped a lot of food & butter milk followed by a short power nap before starting towards chamrajnagar. Post chamrajnagat, the road became worst as expected but i coverd that stretch just before the dark as i wanted to be.

Soon the TN entry and the smooth road heading towards Sathyamangalam through the forest. After coming down from the Thimbam ghat section, i stopped for tea near Bannari temple. I used that break time to fix the Hella spot lights and it was fun driving with them on the highway in dark. The interior route to Udumalaipettai was familiar to me and i didnt have to do the typical route enquiry every now & then.Stayed at the hotel 'Anaimalais' which is a decent option over there.

07th Nov Friday:
Had a nice breakfast and proceeded towards Munnar. Its a 85+ kms long narrow road twisting through forest/tea estates with scenic views all the way. I am used to this road on bike but this is the first time i am going in car. The familiar checkposts in TN / KL border. Stepped out of the car to make an entry in the checkpost...while signing in the register, one of the guards started shouting at my car. Turned back and i realised that a monkey family donning that area entered my car through the window. Within the fraction of time they managed to pull out few snack packs..a couple of Tropicana cans, few biscuit & chips packs..guess they had my marriage feast in advance! :)

Reached Munnar and found that this tiny little town is infested with tourists. Went up & down through all the roads going out of the town in search of a nice resort but i could not finalise any..either they are crowded or they are not good enough for a stay. Finally gave up the idea and decided to proceed towards Theni. After about 12kms from Munnar, in the middle of tea estates, saw that sign board to a resort pointing to a narrow deviation. Again, its a familiar deviation from one my bike trips in which i examined the estate but didnt opt to stay that time as it was out of budget..but now it looked like a nice option..booked it right away.

With the satisfaction that resort is booked, i proceeded towards Theni to my friend's house.. met him and parked the car in his house and took a bus to my hometown.. hope now you know what i meant by 'behind the screen' :)

Engagement and Marriage went fine.. infact Marriage was in a kind of Brahmin style with things like Parrot from Menakshi temple / ammi methiththu arunthathi parthu etc...apart from the usual torchers from photographers/ people throwing rice on head etc, the whole Marriage function was sweet and went interesting...and then a week full of feast in each of my relatives houses consiting of all kinds my fav Non-Veg items! ;-)

A week rolled down smoothly... and 17th Monday morning came when we are supposed to start our Honey moon trip. Plan is like we 2 start the trip on bus on our own and in the weekend my parents will be reaching blr ahead of us waiting to invite us when we reach blr after completing the trip.. ;-) Monday early morning we took the bus to Madurai which is couple of hours anway.. we had just 2 but rediculously heavy bags to carry..not many people in the bus and we took the first seat with the huge windshield infront us. It was pretty interesting..that early morning sun ray..the views..sitting next to her.. the feel that taking her out of my town to start a new life! :-)

At madurai, we went to my sisters house..spent some time with her.. and then took another bus to Theni which was couple of hours from there. The bus went through villages where i spent my 3 years of Bsc golden life..i was showing her my college & the places i roomed around..after a while she got bored and went to sleep! :-) In Theni, my friend was waiting for me...went to his house where my car was parked. Refreshed ourslef and went out for lunch with my friend. Had a heavy lunch..bid goodbye to my friend and took the car out of the town..i could say the actual Honey moon trip started from here.. :-) From Theni, Munnar is under 80km distance with a long ghat section..there was no traffic with village road and greenary all around..we were stopping at every corner.

At one scenic spot in a hairpin bend, i stopped the car and gave a surprise gift (a leather strap watch) to her. :) stopped at a village to buy bananas..had a tea..later we crossed some view points..a huge waterfall at dark..and then at around 8 pm we reached the resort. Its a big estate having a slight rain forest touch but with modern buildings. Stayed there for next couple of days. The food & stay was good.. and we did a bit of Munanr sight seeing as well. Top station view point was interesting..may be bcz we went at the closing time at around 6pm and we were the only people at the view point which was a KM trek away..surrounded by mountains and fog all around.. Gate keeper had to litterally pull us out when its dark.. :-) While in munnar, we mostly had our food at Saravanabhavan which is a pretty nice opiton anywhere in TN.

19th Wednesday 11am: we decided to leave Munnar after our memorable 2 days stay..but it seemed like Munnar didnt want us to leave.. it was all foggy / drizzling / cold and it was simply awesome. We were making a slow progress by stopping at every corner in the 85km ghat section downhill.. coming down & down in the ghat..even after couple of hours, the scenary was as good as ever. Reached udumalaipetti and had a late lunch.. then took an interiror route towards Ooty..it was a long but decent drive in the night.. Ooty ghat section from Mettuppalayam side was narrow and crazy..lots of fun whenever there is a truck or volvo coming opp down in the hairpin..otherwise the road was smooth. reached Ooty at around 10pm..freaking cold outside to even open the car window..stayed in LakeView resort which is one of the best option in Ooty. Had a couple of candles up to give some warmth from the cold! .. ;-)

20th Thursday:
Morning went for boating.. may be i was doing boating after about 15 yrs bypassing the whole of bachelor life..;P and it was nice infact! :D Evening went for a drive in Red hills road which is going out of Ooty into remote areas... stopped the car right infront of a scenic lake and sat there in the grass and spent the evening time in that calm and pretty scenic place.. stayed till dark and came back. Later we were exploring the Ooty market..did some purchase as well.

21st Friday:
Morning went to Botanical garden..it was slightly crowded but the garden itself was
beautiful ..much thicker than blr Lalbagh. There was a film shooting going on. Had a heavy lunch at Sharavanas and went for some more shopping in Ooty market. Later at about 6pm, started back to Blr. The ghat section coming down through Mudumalai & Bandipur is known for elephants and we did spot couple of them. Road was smooth and the drive was interesting..listening to songs..munching Paan and getting the scoldings for the same.. :) Reached mysore Kamat just abt closing time 10:30 and had a heavy dinner. started at around 11:30 and reached blr 1:15. My parents had to wakeup and do an 'Aarathi' to invite the couples in.. :-) It was a safe & interesting trip altogether which we wont forget for life!

Sathodi / Palolem / Gokarna ride - Oct2008

2010-05-27T11:49:00.000-07:00

Oct2008:
Praveen & myself did this ride. We went for a full night run to reach Yellapur. The early morning ride into the interior roads was interesting. Had a short sleep and went for Sathodi falls..spent time in the fall till dark..been sitting near that dam water till very late. Next day visited Magod falls and proceeded towards Goa. Took the interior road which was never ending.

Palolem beach at night was interesting. Next day came back to our usual fav Gokarna and spent the evening there.

Monsoon masala..

2008-09-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

15Aug2008
This was another memorable ride.. mostly because of the members who joined for this
ride..generally it happens only in newyear rides..but this time it happened in the mid year and that too in the monsoon.. and it was fun!

Kamal came from Chennai for this.. and we Pradeep,Vicky,Vikram and myself from Blr..and we did Mulayanagiri & Agumbe.

Interesting part of the trip was that the scene at mulayanagiri top.. Vicky & Vikram went ahead in the previous day and stayed in the top..it would have been a hell of an experience to be there in the top in the dark in midst of dense fog and freezing cold.. they stayed along with temple people..and eventually they lost a 30K worth camera in that night..and that made the day for us the next day.. :D

We joined them the next day.. 5 of us in 5 bikes..accompanied with a police jeep and we all went back to the hill top.. :-) Police jeep went ahead.. but we couldn’t move fast since the scenery was too good to neglect.. later there was a big drama in the top..between we guys / police and the culprits.. with police playing it safe.. temple people acting innocent.. . Vicky’s skills in negotiating with the suspects were pretty impressive..at one point police themselves started praising Vicky and asked him to consider shifting the profession! :D

The drama went through a long waiting period but we were not complaining since the place was very nice..green..foggy..drizzling.. finally we got the camera back as well..later that night we stayed in Balehonnur guest house which again turned out to be a nice place. The next day we went to Agumbe.. and went for the short trek to Barkana falls..the drunken guide was another interesting story.. :D Those few houses and the paddy fields were calm & beautiful.. we spent a lot of time there in the process of bringing our drunken guide on his feet..but we couldn’t..then we had to take one of his other relative and proceed for the trek.

The Barkana view point was wild..with strong wind..showers and so green..mostly mist covered but when it opens up it’s a heaven.. Altogether it was a nice trip as everybody enjoyed well.. 3 guys started back to blr early the next day..myself & Vicky explored Kundadri before returning.. Kundadri as usual fully foggedup.. freezing..wet..slippery and all green without humans.. hmmm I love such places!! ..love to go again & again!

Gaalipata

2008-06-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

This is the second time i am going to the theatre to watch a kannada movie..for the similar reason..the typical KA monsoon shots from the places where we used to travel! I could immediately figure out, half of the film is shot in top of Kodachadri..our fav monsoon hide out! ;-) ..and i could make out that Chakra dam as well..its a hidden treasure under monsoon! ..and then the Sivanasamudram falls in full flow giving a threatening view..Yogaraj Bhat has sure got some tastes! ..I mean, i can name 100 such locations in KA and they reamined green all these years but why all these years the KA directors had chosen only Kemmangundi for their duet songs and that too in the peak summer when everything is dry & brown..especially Rajkumar duets! (yes, i do watch them ;-) ) anyways, Yogaraj Bhat is showing the way out and wow, in what a way..

back to Gaalipata, ..This guy Ganesh is so awesome when he is in to his chatterbox image..he just talks & talks & talks and i think i can improve my kannada skills just by listening to him.. :-) 3 friends..all of a sudden they decide to go out of Blr to some relatives place (i can see Bhat is so keen in exhibiting the KA treasures).. the Scorpio navigating through the wet & muddy path..through tea/coffee estates and in the midst of fog appears a beautiful bungalow..(i tried hard, but i just couldnt make out where this place is located)

..the usual family sentiments..this time, less sentimets & more fun and thats really nice! Matching 3 female characters for 3 guys is not going to be an easy task but our Bhat has worked out well.. Ganesh is bluffing around a girl whom it turns out dramatically that she is already married / lost husband etc and then finally she OKs him..but not before pushing our 'Golden Star' Ganesh into some mind blowing senti scenes..heart licking dialogues..and a shower of tears..what not?? It all ends good! In fact, i liked the other pair Diganth & Neetha more. Over all, the story is nothing to be worried much in this film..but the beauty is the screen play & the locations..ofc, Kodachadri in monsoon is like that only!

Again all the characters had a nice contribution..especially the Dracula! The climax didnt look like a climax except for the threatening view of Sivanasamudra..Bhat has given-up in the last..but over all, its a nice entertainer and a must watch!

PS: Earlier, Bhat had introduced the top of Jog falls to the public through Mungaru Male and from that time onwards the place is crowded like a hell..now its Kodachadri this time..hmmm, its not good in one way!

Chennai-Munnar-Valparai

2008-06-06T03:23:00.000-07:00

Friend's marriage function at Chennai on a Thursday evening.. Considering the 6Lane stretch between Blr & Chennai, it’s a crime to use public transport especially when you have a bike like ZMA! So its going to be a Thursday evening bike ride.. then why not cover Fri/Sat/Sun as well..?? that’s how I ended-up figuring out a custom made route forcefully.. I am saying forcefully because except Chennai, rest of the route is not so new to me and I know it’s going to be a blind mile munching run. The only interesting aspect was that the monsoon had already started in south KL and places like Munnar & Valapari were in charm as they used to be.

The route was like Blr – Krishnagiri – Chennai – Krishnagiri – Mettur – Pollachi – Valparai – Angamalai – Munnar – Sathiyamangalam – Mysore – Blr.. 1800 kms..a mixture of good/bad/crap roads and sunny/sultry/sweating/foggy/cold/shivering/blasting thunderstorm conditions.. ohh, forgot to add.. there was this 'windy' condition as well around windmill famous Palladam side.. so strong winds ready to thrash the bike any moment and I had to hang on literally.. the trip had every possible condition in it and that was another aspect to keep things interesting.

The first 1.5 hrs in the trip was spent to get myself out of this Blr.. then a 3hrs max throttle ride on the 6lane till Chennai.. possibly the best road I have ever seen.. then an hour of Chennai traffic before reaching the reception.. meeting friends.. taking pics... dinner etc.. the same night, spent another hour of Chennai traffic to come out of it and stayed in Vellore.

The next day it was a late start and a long mad run towards Valparai. The lunch break was at SaravanaBhavan-Dharmapuri,.. a good TN lunch after so long! It was 3pm then..there was this piece of info running on my mind that Valparai ghat section is not open to 2-wheelers after 5pm and that pushed me in to a mad run for the next 2.5hrs till the check post.. only to find that that rule was not meant for Valparai going 2-wheelers but for another deviation going to Monkey falls.. a big relief.. i can make use of this finding for some other trip, ..for some other late night climbing.. ;-) ..anyways it was almost 6 by then.. about to dark.. a very good time for the ghat climbing.. after the half way, the bird view of Aaliyar dam was pretty calm & soothing!

Soon I reached Valparai only to find that the town is infested with tourists..OMG.., its a bad news. Valparai is a pretty small town designed for tea estate workers and surrounded by tea estates and forests. With just 2 lodges , the town is definitely not ready for these ultra touring families but year 2008 has stretched its long arm to catch Valparai's neck as well.. local people are facing this change for sure and I could see a mixed response on those faces. Their life,..the day full of hard work in the estates under harsh conditions..the body trouble ..the family issues..money issues..and when the sun goes down, you come to the town center to your fav shop for a drink & chat with your friends and i am damn sure you dont want to see those ultra faces hanging around with a heavy wallet! I just managed to find a place to stay with someone there remembered me from my earlier visits.. thank god!

One of the next day's interesting plan was to hit that 50kms forest stretch as early as 5AM to increase the chances of animal spotting.. but don’t ask me how, I woke up only by 8:30AM.. and then a heavy TN breakfast(yep, Idli/Sambar/Vada/Kesari/Coffee) :D .. started only by 10:30..just 2 kms out of the town and into tea estates I realized something fishy with the bike.. stopped and had a closer look. It was the chain which was hanging like a garland.. :) ..came back to the town and got it tightened.. changed the oil as well suspecting its condition.. and it was 11:30AM by when I could hit the track for a 5AM plan and it all happens and no one can question me.. its solo u see.. ;-)

I wasn’t expecting anything new in this forest stretch with this broad day light.. but the fact was that it had rained heavily for the past 2 weeks and the whole area was so green pleasing the eyes.. the smell was so fresh and refreshing. I slowly got into that mood and started admiring every aspect on that beautiful stretch.. the road was bad & filled with water filled pot holes.. but it was nothing to complain as I was already riding slow looking around. Later came out and crossed Athirampalli falls.. no question of stopping to visit the falls as the KL tourists were in full flow. The next target by then was Munnar...there is this beautiful ghat section starting from Kothamangalam all the way up to Munnar with thick vegetation and so many water falls on every turn.. but to reach that ghat, i had to cross one long 1.5 hrs of mad traffic zigzagging session.. in-between stopped just for 5mins to cross a water body in a ferry and in that 5mins I was sweating generously.. the one thing I hate with KL humidity on sea level.

Soon I was on the start of the ghat by around 5:30pm and I had a late lunch of typical KL special Kappe+curry. Then it started getting dark slowly.. the vehicles in the ghat were in a confusion whether to switch-on the head lights or not for whom I didn’t hesitate to say 'let there be light'.. ;-) In between the rain picked up.. stopped and switched to my rain gears.. and it was raining all the way till the top.. reached Munnar around 8:30pm only to find that the whole of 101+ lodges there are all duly occupied by ultra touring families and I had to come down 5kms to a nearby town to stay. I had this slight miscalculation that the rains are on and tourist season is over.. but it seems like that was the last week before schools will reopen and I was trapped nicely. For the betterment of ultra touring families, I gave up my next day's sight-seeing plans and I decided to take it slow.

Woke up to see the Munnar town being fogged-up heavily.. nice views all over.. spent some time clicking around.. had a nice breakfast and started around 11am.. after all the packing up, realized some thing fishy.. another closer look brought me to the fact that the rear wheel is flat.. :) I was happy that things like these are coming to lime light when I am fresh and standing nearby a town and not when I am tired and in some remote ghat section. I did ride with the flat wheel for 5 kms before reaching the shop to fix it.. and started around 12.. and then this beautiful downhill towards Udumalaipettai.. took it very slow with too many breaks. Later part of the day was spent on a mad run.. some shitty roads.. some non-stop thunderstorms for 4+ hrs.. and finally at home by 11:30pm.

This trip had nothing special or specific as such but it had everything in it which kept things going interesting! :)

Kurinjal - drive & trek

2008-04-14T04:54:00.000-07:00

We 2 guys went for this drive & trek. Kurinjal is one of the peaks located in Kudremuk area. Unlike the typical Kudremuk range which used to have lots of shola grass lands, Kurinjal is mostly covered with dense woods. There is a jeep track going all the way to the top connecting a guest house..but today, both the track & guest house are abandoned and the track became one of the famous trekking routes in Kudremuk region.

We stayed in the nature camp which turned out to be one of the peaceful and interesting place. The trek up to the peak was not tiring.. though the track went through the dense woods, there was constant breeze flowing through the woods and gave the pleasant feeling. The trees were huge & tall and densely populated.

It’s a 7kms trek from the camp and we took 4hrs to reach the top with the medium phase. The peak top gave a nice long view of the surroundings.. our guide helped us to identify other peaks Gangadikal and Narasimha Parvatha. During the trek, we could not spot any wild life but bears and bisons are common in the area I suppose.

Neelamala -Wayanad

2008-03-15T05:14:00.000-07:00

Office team outing was pending for a long..too many options discussed and too many constraints. Finally we concluded that 4 of us will be traveling in my car towards Wayanad. The team is of Nanje,Raghavendra,Devendra & myself..Its all started well from our office entrance with a tea break! [the first tea break in the start of a trip is customary and always special! ;-) ] The team was fully in enthu mood to taste the flavour of KL offerings..without being aware of whats waiting for us ahead.

Within 80kms on the mysore road, the car stopped and refused to turn on any more. The culprit was the timing belt.. a call to Praveen brought some hope back to the trip. In no time the CBZ came to the spot, delivered the spare and departed! ..bikes rocks after all!! The mechanic took his own time as he was learning the Fiat for the first time..good thing was that he was a dedicated learner spending more time in root cause analysis than just fixing the damn belt! :) Finally the car was up & back on the road.. only to stop within 15 kms..this time its puncture..i was rather caught up with an interesting mindset admiring M’s law. It was a dual task this time..to fix the puncture as well as to fix the superstitious beliefs to give up the trip!

It was 11pm when we were back on the track..with a kind of thrilling mindset expecting the next breakdown without knowing when & where it would happen. For a change, Fiat ran smooth this time piercing the darkness of mysore plateau and it kept its vintage till the end of that trip..i must admit, that day's drive was one gem of an experience..driving in dark through the forest.. then smooth and foggy empty Kerala roads..then ripping through the cream twisties.. adding to that the classics collection from the last decade..the team was wide awake till we reached our stay! :)

The next day was spent trekking Nellamala & Meenmutti falls. Both are sitting opp facing each other with a valley in-between. The view of Meenmutti falls from Neelamala top was stunning. Thomas, friend & my usual guide over there was not available..and his cousin was taking us around. The trek was moderate and enjoyable walking through the slopes & lush green vegetation.

The next day we spent time around Lakkidi view point and Pookut late. The lunch was at the usual Jubilee hotel..Team had a nice hunt of Fish / Chicken and special meals in kerala style. After a heavy lunch, we dragged ourselves out of wayanad..supposed to be heading towards Banagalore..and there was one last min entry in our plan..GopalSwamyBetta that is! It turned out to be a nice & chill evening in the hill top..had a long chat session with the temple priest & keeper. While coming down we happened to come across an elephant herd..we stopped the car and they were so close to us with a small side wall being the boundary. We spent more than 30 mins admiring them and clicking around. Later it was an eventless drive till mysore and some eventful rip session in myr-blr 4 lane stretch zigzagging through the slow moving traffic! ;-)

Meenmutti Falls as seen from Neelamala

Neelamala

Meenmutti Falls

Pookot lake

Newyear ride - 2008

2008-01-06T06:45:00.000-08:00

26Dec2007 Fri:

Newyear rides are always special..this is the third newyear we are going for it..almost the same route and almost the same team.. Kamal,Pradeep,Moin and myself.

Evening started early from office..i met the team at Kunigal sharp in time unlike my usual 'late comer' image. We were supposed to reach Sringeri for the night stay but the team decided Chickmagalur for the night boycotting the last 80kms. Even then it was a good progress covering 320+ kms on day 0 ...its a 5 days ride.

Sat: Its obvious that the previous night chat session went too long..and the next day's late start was something which nobody was in the mood to complain about. We reached Agumbe to have a late lunch in the recenly discovered hotel during the last trip..their chicken curry is one of the best. After a heavy lunch of rice/chicken/fish, the team takes a qucik nap in the Agumbe guest house.

By 4:30PM we were up and riding towards Kundari..the road towards the top was as usual deserted and twisting through forest. The moment we reached the top, the team found that the place was worth enough. I was here in Kundadri 6 months back and i am
wondering how the weather conditions makes such a dramatic changes to these places. That time it was like dense fog constantly blocking the visibility..showers all the time..it was all green & wet everywhere..and now its all golden brown and the view is crystal clear..we could see a long on the surrounding paddy fields and distant hills. We saw a beautiful sunset there..few funny photo sessions..and some chat till it got dark..and then we were riding down towards guest house. We had infact ordered for dinner to the guest house keeper..he had prepared a decent chicken meal..and again one more late night chat session.

Sun:
I got up at the unusual 5:15 in the morning..a quick shower in the cold water and a strong coffee in the only shop in Agumbe..and i was out towards Sringeri. I wanted to visit the temple early in the morning. The 20kms ride to Sringeri was expected to be fun..but a slight miscalculation..i had neglected the Glove & Jacket and soon i found the freezing winds piercing my hands & fingers. A small lake i saw enroute had a heavnly look in that morning..Sun was not out yet and it was very cold..and the lake water which would have absorbed the previous day sun was still warm..and thats how the whole lake had batches of smoke above and it was a stunning view.

Sringeri temple had good amount of people even in that cold morning..the ornage sun light was making the temple glowing. Spent an hour there and returned to Agumbe. By this time, the rest of the team proceeded the ride and i caught them at Sagar for Lunch. Later we went towards unchalli falls through interior roads..saw a river enroute and the team decided to take a bath right there. For Unchalli falls, i was going for the third time and now only i can see the complete dimensions of that falls..it was tall/wide and falling deep into the valley.

Later we caught the coastal NH at around 9pm and reached Goa at 11:30. Straight away we hit the Palolem beech where there was a party going on. We were like dead tired and in dirty cloths riding all the way from Agumbe through some bad roads and night ride..and it was a shock to see such a party happening in that late night..we were into it anyways and we came out only by 3:30am. :D

Mon:
Morning, we covered rest of the distance and reached Calaungte beach. It was a mad traffic inside Goa all the way but we didnt have much of problem as we were in bikes. It was 2:30pm very hot & sultry..we found a nice resort near Baga beach with swimming pool/shack & all..team didnt even bother to get into the room & freshenup..straight away settled down in the shack and started chilling out. Evening sunset at Vagator fort..stayed there till dark and got down to Anjuna beach. It was calm and decent crowd there..still we found something was missing..its the last day of the year and we needed more :-) Meanwhile, kamal was already in mood and he was dancing all the way..it was like every beach side shack was playing different different music and we had to change our dance steps every time we cross a shack.. :D

Later we moved to Baga beach..there, all the beach shacks were in full josh and completely crowded. We found a shack close to a stream and it was relatively a calm place. Our chairs & table were arranged next to the beach waves and we were there for the rest of the night. As the time passed, the crowd started dancing more & more..at 12, all the beach shacks made a non-stop fireworks for 30 mins..the dark sky was completely decorated for 30 mins and the entire crowd stopped dancing and kept staring the sky with jaws down..the best newyear experience i ever had!! :-) Later came back to hotel at around 3am and had a swimming in the pool. :D

Tus:
Today was a no riding day..we spent most of the time in Calaungte beach doing all kinds of water sports available there. In paragliding i like the bird view of the huge white boat piercing the blue water towing us. Banana ride took the shit out
of everybody. There was a tiny guy sitting in the rear end of our boat..and he kept toppling the boat every time making the team gulping the salt water. I think, We should carry that guy once in our bike pillion on a zig-zag traffic cutting ride..
:D..and see how he topples there.. :D Later that night, the goan crowd came to normal..candolim beach was pretty calm..we settled down in a nice restaurant in Aguada road.

Wed:
It was nothing but a boring ride back home..had a minor accident but managed to get out without any impact. Started from Goa by 10:30 in the morning and reached home by 12 night. Like every other newyear ride, this one was special.

Kemmangundi / Gokarna

2007-12-25T05:45:00.000-08:00

03Nov2007

I had just purchased this car..Palio 1.2..within couple of days we were into this trip. Myself & Vicky were going for it. We had 4 days in hand but didnt have any solid plans as such. Since the monsoon was just over, we decided to take the usual scenic route like Bangalore - Chikmagalur - Kemmangundi - Jog - Unchalli - gokarna - Bangalore. It was indeed a scenic trip with a slight touch of rain. In this trip only, i was driving a 4wheeler very firt time for more than a KM,..i was holding the steering wheel for most part of this trip..and by the end of this trip, i had completed my learning curve and i was able to rip back home :D

Goa & Kodachadri

2007-08-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

Aug2007

Fri 10th: Started by 7pm from blr..covered half the distance fast..as usual, the Tarikeri area which is closer to kemmangundi hills got the monsoon effect.. started drizzling..the dusty visor and the rain drops on top of it made a perfect combo and making kaleidoscope effect..reached bhadravathi by 12:30am and slept!

Sat: Morning went to Jog..in the parking place there were some 100 cars with so much of crowd(effect of that recent forward mail I think)..didnt feel like getting in..so turned back and went towards Unchalli falls..had a lazy ride in those interior never ending twistes..clean roads..fresh air..all wet and green..no humans..was stopping every corner..falls was just blasting..came out of that whole stretch by evening and stayed in Gokarna.

Sun: Didn’t feel like riding to Goa..thought of coming back to blr :D before coming to any conclusion, I was already on the move..
took a deviation at Canacona and went to Agonda/Cola beaches. Spent couple of hours in ‘Caba de rama’ fort.. its one isolated fort on the seashore hill top..forest eating up fort walls..inside the fort, lost the way back to the entrance..who cares.. ;-)
ride out till Margoa was fun with all those cream twisties..reached Calangute by 6pm..booked a resort on the beach in a calm place..500rs/day..spent sometime in a beach shack..and then settled down in one of those bars enroute Aguada..drizzle out side..only few tables occupied..and that typical goan music in the background..Goa is different I say! Good that they keep it open till late night..by 12, took dominos pizza and port wine to room.. :D

Mon: Aguada fort in the morning.. Vagator fort in the evening..back and settled down in another restaurant in the Aguada road..by now, I know how to spend a day in goa :D

Tus: Ride back with still confusion going on in mind whether to take-up kodachadri idea or not..scenic ride out of goa till Karwar..crossed Honavar..NH17 which was so lovely all this while turned bullshit.. potholes filled with stones.. trucks don’t give way but keep throwing the mud..very very irritating..took the kollur deviation and the life is back within few kms out of the NH into the interiors.. distant view of kodachadri hills creamed with clouds..fresh air and paddy fields all over..K750i singing ’rooba roo..roshini’ inside helmet.. the life tastes so sweet there!
by 3pm, few kms short of Kodachadri base, found a broken bridge..hope you know kodachadri 'base to top' is of 15 kms perfect offroading..only mahindra 4X4 jeeps and few mad bikes can do it..no sumo no scorpio..its one scary rock climbing to the top..getting there alone and doing that in night is nothing like I can not do or so..but something I wanted to avoid desperately..!

The evening is approaching fast and now this broken bridge even before reaching the base..whoever I enquired had very little idea on the alternative route..had to talk to many..paste the bits and pieces and make out a huge roundabt via sidapur/nagara..only to find another broken bridge past nagara.. life is almost on the hands of mother natue.. :D someone showed me a route..lost way in the middle which went through forest and made a deadend at scary Chakra dam..no soul for miles even to smell if you are decomposing..after all this circus, reached kodachadri base by 7pm.. then the fun started..initial 1 km was threatening with slush..once on the rocks it was ok..michelins worked well..Karizma does rock climbing nicly.. :D reached top by 8:30pm..stayed in PWD rest house..few mallu guys gave company..had missed lunch actually..the hot rice and sambar they served tasted like anything.

Wed: The PWD rest house was fully soaked in the fog and gave a pretty interesting look..guided mallu friends to the kodachadri top..its scenic all over..green, wet and misty..slight drizzle..spent lotsa time in the top..started the ride back by 1pm..again scary down hill..came to the base by 2:30pm..by now, I was in a trap..both kollur & nagara routes were blocked and no way out of that wonderful land..even i don’t mind staying back there for ever :-)..marry a local girl..work on my own paddy field..etc.. stopped for a smoke with a deep look into the still waters of that huge dam..its calm..dead calm like the whole world is dead and only those few birds and the waves in the water are alive..couldnt move from there.
Later had to do some 15kms circus to bypass the broken bridge..touched NH near to shimoga by 6:30pm and had lunch(?) in the outskirts..later the boring ride back and reached home 11:30pm!

Munnar -Jul2007

2007-07-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

Cousin's marriage in home town on a thursday morning..had to wrap 4 days of the week..why not bike? :-) pretty easy decision..but starting by wed 7pm from blr, and covering 500+ kms on the most truck infested NH and reaching home in full piece before the sun comes out was something to do with endurance. Father seeing me with bike & helmet, gave one furious look followed by a shower of blessings.hmmm..if you love a girl, you can explain that to anybody..what if you love biking..? that too Jinga biking.. :-)

..Spent 2 days in home town and remaining 2 days in Munnar.

I was eager enough to see Munnar again in monsoon..i was not disappointed. Went up through Bodimettu ghats..new route..its calm and trafficless..pretty interesting views all the way. I was wondering why its not raining yet..once half the distance is crossed, that is, after gaining some altitude its all started.. :-) Seems like the enitre upper half of the hill is fully soaked in rain & fog..it was raining a month already but that week was with little heavy dose it seems.
Road was reasonably good and winding through estates..every turn there is a water fall..the shower continues all the way..temprature dropped low..t-shirt inside the jacket is properly soaked..shoes are waterbags..Stopped for a hot & strong coffee.. yea, coffee when it rains.. ;-)

It was 2pm then..didnt want to reach Munnar early..took it slow with more photo breaks..it rained non-stop..crossed munnar and proceeded towards mattupetty viewpoint..road was like cream & twisting..inviting to lean..hmmm,not now..its wet road and i am shivering and not with of great balancing. There was this bright green grass land where couplea wild elephants were having their quality time..2 tourist vehicles stopped and we were all shooting the elephants..my hands were shivering and couldnt catch the camera steadily. At around 6:30pm, the thought came like, "ok enough of it..lets get back!!" ..so went back and found a cozy room in the outskirts. It was still raining..and it rained for the full night.

Again, its a big resort with no occupants except me..i was in IInd floor..nice balcony in the midst of a series of empty balconies from other rooms .. view was a big frame with half of the frame was of those tiny little houses in the distance slope..remaining half was occupied with tea estates..and everything was soaked under a heavy shower.. :D i clicked few shots of those tiny little lights from the houses under the rain.

Next day,the return leg towards bangalore started at around 2pm..the 85km ride upto udumalaipettai was completely downhill and through thick vegetation..typical munnar scenaries! and yea, it was still raining..! Kamal's words, "i was coming down along with the water" came to mind.. ;-) when it rains, the water finds the road as the better & faster channel for travel..more & more water falls..i wasnt in a mood to think abt blr or its distance..i was just stopping every corner..

The tavera came along was also stopping in every corner..a white female inside, with a lengthy camera making sure i am not the only odd one out there..!! :D .. Chinnar water fall which is located in the midst of forests was in full josh..i could hear the blasting from distant. What if i get a chance to trek through and get closer to the falls?? i know where this question will lead to..but as of now, let me get back to the road..At around 5pm is when rain stopped..which means, i am already down from the hill..and here comes, the bangalore milestone reminding me 350 odd kms..started ripping from there!

Agumbe - when it rains

2007-07-05T04:57:00.000-07:00

2007 June 23/24 ..when the monsoon had just started and in full swing.

It was a 3rd trip to this place Agumbe.. the place known for its non-stop rains..
My first group ride happened here only. It was 2005-Summer and we were climbing Agumbe ghats in dark at around 9pm..and went to the sunset point..dont know what to see ..but it was all fun. Next ride to this place happened in 2006-Monsoon..when we had that nasty accident and then managed to trek Kudluteertha falls as well under the non-stop showers. I remember in that trip also we went to sunset point in dark..around 11:30pm..dont know what to see again.. ;-)
and now..this is trip number 3.. still with some new bunch of enthu..we were 3 guys..Vijay,Arnold Adi and myself...its 2007-Monsoon now.. ;-)

Agumbe is a sleepy and pretty interesting town..there is a junction where roads from Thirthahalli,Sringeri & Hebri joins..and all the busstand,hotel,police station,school everything related to Agumbe located right on the junction..once you walk out of that junction, you will fall into dense vegetation.

There is only one hotel available and they serve tasty neer dosa and kottai idli..this time we explored another hidden hotel who serve tasty home made chicken fry/ chicken biriyani. ;-)
We were in the process of exploring Barkana falls and Kundadri. We got a guide to show us the way for Barkana..while walking along, before starting all that conversation, i asked his name..he said 'Thimmappa'. Ohh..you are 'Thimappa' is it?? ..thanks to blogs..you people rock dudes!

Thimappa was helpful..in terms of providing antileech stuffs and chopping the fallen trees blocking our way. There is a jeep track leading to Barkana falls view point..now that its monsoon, a couplea overloaded streams and few treefalls making sure this place is abandoned..and we saw the falls also. How we saw and what we experienced there cant be explained in words..u got to go and at right time..! ;-)

It was sunday 4pm we decided to leave Agumbe..it was still raining..Arnold Adi's 3rd t-shirt also got soaked and he left his fate to mother nature..so as me.
At 4pm starting from a place like Agumbe at conditions like this, you should rip back towards bangalore..but Itch is contagious..we went towards Kundadri..there also few tree falls etc..no people on the entire hill. On the top there is a nice temple soaked under dense fog/wind/shower..the place was wild. Finally at 6pm when the light started to fade, we decided to rip back.
Route: Blr-Hassan-Chikmagalur-Agumbe-Thirthahalli-Shimoga-Blr.

Update from a biker..

2007-06-06T07:07:00.000-07:00

// Heading towards Mount Isa, the rain clouds began to once again threaten, I don’t think I’ve had a days riding so far on my own where I haven’t been in a downpour.It’s quite a testament to the size of the sky out here, but on my left I could see a steady wall of water where it was raining, above me were dark clouds, hung like bombs ready to drop, and to my right were clear skies. Three different weather patterns all in the same view, quite amazing really.I managed to run through 90% of the gauntlet of dark clouds before the inevitable storm struck and my shoes (which had only just dried from the water crossing) were once again soggy containers of water. //

sounds close to the "chasing the clouds" standards right?
yep..just loved this update from him..incidentally he keeps his ID as "Chasing Horizons" :D

Nice read..the way he examines his companion’s accident is just matured..
Not to mention..loads of nice pics..!!
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=232338

The First Rain - Bangalore2007

2007-04-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

wow..wow..its one sight to view..
the first official rain for 2007 Bangalore.. !!
it just blasted..i came out of office by 9:15pm only to find out rock & roll..
had smoke..waited for 30 mins..didnt look like its gonna giveup..!
came back to seat and started writing.. :D
the thunderstorm was heavy..the rain water splashing all over..
hmmm..its a great start! ;-)
i know, its just a summer rain..but i hope for an early monsoon!

Parson valley

2007-04-08T07:01:00.000-07:00

24Mar2007

Sat 6AM..was into a deep sleep without any worries on ‘men in blue's blunders..
PM calls up and spoils my sleep..was expecting this call anyways..there was this coorg trip planned with office friends.

He says "hey..what happened..we are all waiting for you."
Me, "No sir..carryon..will join in my bike" ;-)

Later at around 12 started..reached mysore outskirts and stopped for coconut ..and subsequently got into other thoughts..Instead of taking right and catching up with aaphis people at coorg, I took left towards ooty.. :D
idn’t know exactly on ‘what to do @ ooty’..may be let me try finding a jinga resort..
found one anways..its in a remote/quiet corner..some 75 individual cottages with only 3 cottages occupied..one for manager, one for owner and one for me.. :D it happens!! :D they are planning to sell the whole resort and it costs 9cr it seems!

ok, now the Sunday comes..and I did a ooty sight-seeing..
like Ooty – Emerald Valley– Red Hills – Parson Valley – Ooty..some 60 kms / 5 hrs of lazy ride stopping every corner..
the only word to say..its WILD !!
some places the road was covered with broken logs and scary to ride..grass growing in the middle of the tar road..and the dam & power house is almost abandoned..not a single tourist vehicle in that whole stretch.

before entering the parson valley, the locals warned me that high chances of running into a bison herd any time..that kept my eyes wide open while taking the twisties..and when I saw that skull right on the road, the heart beat started shooting-up.. :D only while coming out of parson valley, I came to know that the permit from DFO is required to enter..and they don’t give that often.. since I entered from the other end(through red hills) nobody was there to stop me..!! ;-)
Should be interesting to checkout this place in peak monsoon!

pics below..didnt take my Kodak this time..tried my hands with K750i.

Vellarimala

2007-03-20T09:34:00.001-07:00

A bouncy last bed in a sleeping coach making sure i am wide awake till past wayanad..then this interesting jeep safari through the remote towns of kerala..only to remind me that i am missing my bike..Mutthappan pulza comes..its the last town in the road before the forest boundary..getting down from the jeep and shaking hands with our guide Josettan. We 3 people..Vijay,myself and Josettan..and we were into this 3 days trek deep into the ever green forests of western ghats..the place called Vellarimala..not known to many, but we got pointers from Sandeep.

I should have stopped Josettan from packing that live chicken..but it had happened like that.Vijay was fully charged and almost running ahead towards the forest..myself taking it in my usual phase. In the last house, we unloaded extra luggage and got inside the forest..there onwards, the time was flying fast..didnt know how we spent 3 full days inside that forest..it just melted.

The forest was dense..signs of elephants everywhere..some really cool water streams..some hardcore climbing with all the luggage..lost count on the number of breaks we took. By 3pm, we were in good altitude when the fog covered us..by 3:30, Josettan declared the end of the day when he found a small dripping water soure..hmm,its not fun sitting inside this bushes
till next morning..pulled him out literally..the next 2 hrs was tough enough to test our endurance skills. It was scenic with fog & cold weather..but we had to cover a distance before it gets dark..by 5:15 we were on Vellarimala top..another 15mins of downhill walk and we were in our camp site.

Every bit of mineral content in my body was squeezed out that day through sweat..reclaimed some energy with a hot MTR soup and a 30 mins break. Josettan who was in a tensed mood for the past 2 hrs came back to normality when we settled down..i know, he wasn’t worried about forest but for the chicken preparation.. :-) he started preparing for dinner briskly. Tent was setup, firewoods gathered and camp fire was on.. peaceful and interesting hours spent in preparing the dinner. Chicken curry cooked with cocunut oil tells Josettan's name loudly!

Josettan is a pretty interesting character..no less for fun..Myself & Vijay fired so many questions towards him on facing animals and situations..fella was totally in enthu mood and replying funny answers all the way..may be he dont know/bother what next?? The place where we had set-up the camp was inside the deep jungle..and right next to the only water source available in a big radius..and animal signs are there all around the camping spot..its obvious that animals have to
visit this place frequently for water..but Josettan didnt seem to be worried at all. After a heavy dinner he & vijay went to sleep.

I was sitting outside the tent for an hour till 10pm..just listening the calmness of the forest and the stream..pushing the fire woods to make big flames..i went to bed by 10pm and immdly got into a very deep sleep..suddenly i was woken by Josettan..i pulled my watch, ohh shit its just 10:30..not even 30 mins, he pulled me out the tent..fella got into various thoughts once the fire was off.. :-) okie..cool..time to make out a plan..i took the first session upto 12:30.. Initially i felt bit sleepy..but soon turned out to be an interesting job..push the fire woods..come back & sit listening the ambiance..time just ran away like that. Later called out Vijay for his turn for another 2 hrs. He too liked the job..My next turn was by 4:30am..when i wokeup, i saw vijay cleared some good amount of woods..i took over from there till the proper sunlight gets in by 6:30..hmmm, it was a pretty interesting night.

The next morning Josettan prepared some nice dry fish fry, fried with coconut oil. We cooked few MTR packs and carried to our next attempt..the peak called Vavval mala is today's target..as per Josettan, people have reached there 3 years back but
i doubt. We went for it anyways. Now the forest was very dense..elephants dungs all over the path..infact the path was not made of human foot steps..its just made of elpehant & bison herds. Soon it turned out to be full of bamboo bushes and impossible to penetrate through. From 10am to 1:30pm we were walking one way towards the peak..covered almost half the distance. But the worry from Josettan was that that 3.5 hrs walk till then itself was in a totally 'no-path' situation..just walking on a guess..if we proceed the same for another 2 hrs, it will be impossible to come back. It is assured that either we would endup staying in the top foodless or come back and get lost in the dark.

Myself & Vijay were playing all sorts of dramas with Josettan to pull him to the top and see what next..we were desperate to face anything just to reach the top.. But Josettan didnt fall in line at all..finally we decided to takeup his decision..afterall its a wise move to stay away from a scary/cold/foodless/shelterless jungle night. May be we should have started early..but then its all fine..nothing to loose there..i mean it when josettan says "there is no medal given in the top..come here & stay for a week and go..dont just run around" his words are true. We city live people try to bring the whole world inside our so called plans..we could have made a better plan to reach the top..but what you get out of it? :-) for me, I am completely interested for another trek out there…may be a leisurely 4days kind to attempt Vavval mala and trek further.

On the way back we took more time in a couple of scenic places..there was this para where the view was stunning..the entire Vellarimala batch of forests under on
feet and the mist playing hide & seek over them..just stunning! By then we spotted another group of local guys going in some wrong direction inside woods at a distant..iinline with the distance between we 2 groups, josettan formed out a nice communication channel to guide those guys...soon we met the guys by around 5:30 pm..they camped next to us which just allowed us for a continuous sleep without watchman job. :-) Before that another round of heavy chicken curry dinner..today the taste was much better and i dont know how much i gulped. A proper sleep throughout the night.

The next day josettan took both the groups to another view point called Masthaka para..thats one stunning view i ever had..dense forests/peaks/clouds everything under our feet. Spent lotsa time around there clicking. Later cleared the camp spot and got down. The downhill was much faster as expected..though we took it slow..the other group went ahead..we spent lotsa time in the streams and reached the human settlement only by dark.

This 3 days trek went past just like that..it is worth & it is hardcore..high chances of runnning into animals. I am sure going back this monsoon when it is considered impossible to venture.

Mungaru Male

2007-03-20T00:52:00.000-07:00

This happened to be my first Kannada film that i am seeing on the big screen..i started liking this movie even before going to the theatre..the reason is the monsoon and the shots taken in the rain!

In the very first scene itself, the hero gets to meet the heroine.. while gazing at her, he falls down into the drainage..she helps him and thats where it all begins!!
Hero sending message to the heroine through FM scene is nice! Hero is not that of an attravtive male..but a cute character..talkative & always with a smile. Heroine is a healthy female..and generous in terms of glamour but seems like director(Yogaraj Bhat) got other ideas.Unfortunately heroine couldn’t bring out that chemistry with the hero..may be the character is like that.. but hero manages with his cute attitude! ..poor fella, half of the film he is standing in the rains.

Almost all of the characters in the film got good contribution, including the Devdas, the cute little rabbit. Thank god, there is only couple of fight scenes..and they are natural! ..and there is this scene where the hero takes the heroine right on top of the Jog falls..wow..what a view!(I went to the same view point later in a trip with friends) Songs have to be hit..they are shot in nice locations and under very nice weather conditions.

There is this shot in a song where Ganesh & Pooja dancing while the background is a stream of muddy rain water flowing across the road..hmmm, this happens only when it poured like god and just stopped(unlike the artifical showers made in usual shootings)..and another scene with the bright green paddy field flooded after the rains..should say the director got some nice tastes! ..hero sitting close to the lake water, in the pouring rain, drinking and expressing his love to the heroine..hmmm touching! ..and other family sentiments are mixed in proper measures!
The only thing i didnt like with this film was the climax..! :-(

New Year Bash - 2007

2007-01-08T06:58:00.001-08:00

28Dec2006 to 02Jan2007

My last view of 2006 Bangalore
This Newyear ride was a combo of Pradeep,Prabul,Vijay and myself Arun.
Kamal couldnt join us which was a big disappointment..he was the lead(thala) for our last newyear ride the same destination.

Day1:
As usual I was late for the Nelamangala chai meet... I was late by 0.5hr, 1hr, 1.5hr as per Vijay,Pradeep,Prabul respectively.. :D Prabul already left and on the way. We all teamed-up at Kamat Channarayanpatna. From then, it was a nice group ride all the way. The next stop we made was at Chikmagalur for tea. We packed lunch as well. Soon we came out of the town and entered the ghat section. The kemmangundi road was at its worst possible shape..though the scenery was ok & fine. The last time i came here was in peak monsoon few months back..it was all green,wet and misty..this time its all missing, but then it was ok. We found a nice small waterfall on a corner and settled down for our lunch. After that nice little lunch session, we entered that Hebbe horror..the track was damn slippery with all that stones and gravel.

Hebbe falls

Soon we were in the hebbe falls..and the view was cool as usual..guess this one waterfall never disappoint people irrelevant to seasons. Later it was getting dark when we were coming out of hebbe..the scenary was just romantic that i stopped at every corner.Soon we were standing on the tea shop outside kemmangundi resort. Nobody was interested to go & check whether rooms are there are not..as per prabul, Kemmangundi resort is one sick place to stay with sick food :-) We enquired about other stay options with a villager who was waiting for bus(?). He spelled out a name called Kalhatti giri..what giri? asked few more times to memorize the name.. we thought it would be another village with some dirty lodge..we just proceeded to check that..only to find such a calm & nice place with a mini waterfall and beautiful resort waiting all alone for us. :-)

Bababudangiri hill ranges

For food, the guard suggested us to ride to the nearby village and bring the ‘live’ chicken..so that he can cook for us..the idea didn’t really look nice to me..we went to the village anyways and came back with booze & cooked chicken :-) We sat in that huge balcony..it was freezing but fun..the chat went for long.

Day2:

Morning we went to the water falls. Its a small temple with a mini waterfall on the side..you can trek up for further waterfalls but we didn’t. By then few of the village families came there to worship god and take bath. We had a big confusion whether to take bath here or in the room..prabul entered the falls first..and then, one by one all of us got in. :-) After bath, entered that small temple and prayed god. The time was running pretty fast but it was very peaceful out there. Guess in day time more people would come and the place might get dirty..go there in night!! ;-)

When it was almost lunch time, we started for our next destination..which was supposed to be either lakkavalli or Agumbe. We went straight to lakkavalli dam..its a 20kms deviation from Tarikeri..the dam was beautiful with thick blue water. They had few cottages right on the dam..very nice place to stay..but again, all the aunties & uncles from bangalore booked them, so we tourers dont have business there..we proceeded on our way towards Sringeri.The route was pretty confusing between map & asking people..but then, i had a rough idea. Prabul suggested to stop for lunch in a pakka village hotel..i say, we need people like Prabul to generate such spot ideas.. ;-) we stopped for lunch some where before N.R.Pura..the veg food was pretty good. we all gulped to the neck..i gulped to the nose infact..couldnt walk after lunch.. :-( was wondering how am i going to ride??

Vidyasankara temple -Sringeri

but then, the roads were good and everybody started ripping..the curves were getting better and better while approaching sringeri. Soon we were in the temple..there was a little crowd in the temple..many of them were feeding the holy fishes on the stream running inside the temple campus. It was very nice spending time there. After dark only we came out of it.

we headed for our destination Agumbe which is of another 20kms or so..with a ghat look-alike road..reached Agumbe guest house by 8:30.. i was wondering whether we would get rooms or what..but the guest house was dark and sleeping..had to wakeup the guard. He promptly gave us the room. I had this idea of riding to the sunset point in the midnight..but then, guard opposed the idea and said there was 'shooting order' against naxals..so better not to step out. :-)
We anyways stepped out for food..packed 'Neer dosa' and other usual stuffs and back to the guest house. Again it was a long chat session.

Day3:

Now the target is Kodachadri..but not yet decided.. ;-) we started late and went towards Thirthahalli. Vijay's bike had some welding job to be done. Later, we enquired route for Chakra dam..locals suggested another dam called Varahi which was supposed to be more scenic than Chakra..we agreed promptly.

Varahi dam

The route was pretty confusing but interesting..as in, we need to stop every corner to enquire..finding humans to enquire is also kinda tough. The road was narrow, average & ok kind, and scenic all over.
Not much of human settlements in that stretch..thick vegitation..in monsoon, guess the whole area should hold a wild look and pretty interesting to ride on. We reached Varahi dam..wow wow wow..such a hidden beauty out there. Like every other dam, here also no entry & no permit to click around…asked the guards as in, why we should not enter/click.. couldn’t understand what they say.. a long soaping act with cops didnt really work..we came back little disappointed..
at a turn, i stopped others..why not we enter the dam without their knowledge?? :-) the dam wall was 'inviting' us..parked the bikes and climbed the wall..on the top,there is one road and a majestic view of the dam..we climbed down in the other side and reached the water level..wow, water is so clean and fresh..we clicked around as much as we wanted..like someone says, rules are meant for something.. ;-) Later, again prabul suggesting for a village hotel lunch..this time, i pitched-in like, let it be a village hotel but non-veg plz...and here we go, our luck, we found a pakka village hotel with proper non-veg...believe me,i never tasted such a tasty fish fry..went for 2 fishes, a chicken fry, and kgs of rice to go along.. :-) and yep, again couldnt walk...now kodachadri didnt really look like a nice idea.. :D took out the map, and decided ok lets go kundapura..team promply agrees..(good team I say) and now, it was a new ghat section we took to reach sea level..cream twisties...just ripped all the way.

Maravanthe backwaters

We took a chai break and then stopped at Maravanthe..had a nice little photo session. Now, the watch reads to 5pm..the sunset was supposed to happen at Murdeshwar but sun god was not in mood to go along with us..Murdeshwar is still a lot of distance to cover..decided to give it a try..the next one hour was a hardcore rip on that coastal NH..the road was really bumpy..but we didnt leave the throttle..Prabul was always ahead of me..seems like he decided not to use brakes..the sun was going down pretty fast in our left..we were seeing it and ripping..just banged in to Murdeshwar in time..the sun was left another 10mins to set.. :-)..

Murdeshwar drive-in beach

soon vijay & Pradeep arrives..then everybody started dragging the bikes in the beach..Prabul was the one most excited..he was riding in the beach here & there for almost 30mins..upto 7:30 we were in the beach only. Later stayed in a nearby hotel.

Day4:
Today is the last day of 2006..Prabul need to go back Bangalore and enter his house before 6pm else his wife wont allow him IN ever.. :-)
so he parted..and we 3 proceeded towards Gokarna..we actually had a new confusion. since we had cut down kodachadri, we were 1 day ahead of schedule..what to do now? suddenly decided 'dudhsagar'..its some water fall sitting in some corner of Goa..
some kinda trekking also reqired to reach there..going all the way for that and coming back to Gokarna for newyear looked like a James Bond task..but pradeep & vijay were boosting me to go ahead..okiee..lets rip.. :-)

Enroute DudhSagar waterfalls

Entered Goa..the first time i am getting in with bike..the roads are narrow and surprisingly pretty neat..all that sudden coconut trees and village look alike area brings the Goan mood somehow..we had a nice lunch break..
I liked the taste of breezer..its so sweet and smells nice.. :-) crossed Margo,Ponda and entered another village road.
Reached the spot by 5pm..another 8kms of jeep trail to be covered..but since it goes through forests, its closed after 4pm..ohh man, the whole day run gonna get waste..we were standing pretty confused and irritated..by then, i saw this person who was in half trouser and riding a cycle..stopped him to enquire abt the other* option to enter..;-) confused him for sometime..later litterally kidnapped him as our official guide and entered the forest..now, the ride was through a foot trail going along the railway track..pretty interesting. Soon reached the falls. There was not much of water..but it was a big satisfaction that we made it to the place. Now its dark and the ride back till Gokarna before the year end looked worsen than the James Bond task..adding to that,we decided to take a village route by-passing Margoa..that turned out to be a very chill ride through some remote areas in dark..the road was just cream which allowed us to move fast. Everybody was complaining that i am riding slow.. :-) we covered the distance pretty fast and there was a hope that we can reach Gokarna before 12..and we did it as well. Manager /Owner Mr.Kuchinad didn’t really expect me that i would reach by 11:30..he had given my room to some other aunty/uncle..later he promised me that once the party is over, he will take us to his residence for that night.. ;-)..and we refreshed ourselves and joined the party. There were few cars..few girls in all shapes..a loud music..and for that everybody should dance is it?? :D and pradeep did dance as well..

Day5:
Its a "No ride" day..so we started to beach lazily..i could see the Oom beach getting commercialized pretty fast..
still it had that charm. This time we took a boat to Sangam beach..its a pretty long beach with white sand..
0 shops..0 tourists.. :-) must be a great place to camp..but then, we came back..asked the boat valla to drop us in half-moon beach..so that we can get a hand on trekking as well..its a 15mins trek to paradise beach from there. reached paradise and settled down in a hut..while other foreign dopers busy with cards, we preferred to play chess.. and thats how the day went off.. later in the evening, we got into water.. swimming in the sea is always interesting...then spent some time in clicking sunset..then, we saw this lonely foreigner who was sitting on the beach and playing guitar + singing with nobody to listen except he himself..we decided to give him a company..he played nice in-deed..we boosted him to play more & more..after 45mins, he got tired and wanted to call it a day..and we didn’t leave him..then, he agreed for a last song.. with all our surprise he started singing “Jhalak Dikhlaja Jhalak Dikhlaja aaja aaja” with pakka rhytm..and we were like shell shocked.. :D

That’s how the newyear 2007 began..

couple of videos,
the beach drag sessions at Murdeshwar..

Karizma

Group

and few more pics..

Kalhatti giri falls

Resort - K'giri

Feeding fishes

Kottai iddli.. :D @Agumbe

Enroute Dudhsagar falls

Riding the Naxal zone!

Prabul in high spirit..

Oom beach shack

An odd evening..

2007-01-08T04:41:00.000-08:00

Its not that beautiful pic or so..i clicked this just to remind this moment..

it was getting dark and we were climbing out of hebbe falls...and this particular stretch goes on a hill top with this view..guys went ahead and i couldnt move..

got stuck-up... :-)

the moment i stopped my bike, the whole nature jumped on me..found it hard to breath.. ;-)
something romantic with this place..infact, its not just about the place..but its a combination of place, that evening time, that sun-light, that remote wilderness with sounds..

just couldnt move from there..

Kalpetta - Dec2006 version

2006-12-17T06:25:00.001-08:00

09Dec2006 Saturday

We wanted to ride out but didnt have any concrete plan like where & all. The previous night Kadamba discussions didn’t yield any result. Hence , Saturday was moving with out any events.

Around 2pm, vicky calls up..
Me: Hello..
Vicky: what..
(both of us laughing..)
Vicky: what man..you are not going.
Me: I am waiting for you guys..ok tell me where..
Vicky: we will go there only..(kalpetta)

Later dragged pkm in to the plan, who was busy purchasing a Santro with all that year-end offerings.

To make things little interesting, we decided to ride through Muthanga wildlife sanctuary in the night.

Started from Bangalore by 6pm..Vicky started well ahead to complete his remaining run-in kms..comfortable ride till mysore. Noticed this honda accord..it just flooded my rvms with a white light..monster was too fast...while behind him, i see the whole road like a lightened-up stadium..very powerful blue vision with him. Had a heavy dinner at Kamat Mysore. No signs of vicky..fella was busy dragging his cousin’s rxz and it takes hell lot of time to put him back in the plan. By the time we were out of mysore , it was 10:00 pm.

Now the road was not that great, but still we were ripping. Praveen was too happy with the performance of his CBZ after the modifications. With over-joy, he sometimes overtakes us and ride in the front with his stock torchlight..there was a close call when Praveen missed out that suspicious divider placed strategically on the road. god sake why they put that divider where there is no curve at all..on the last sec, he was literally bending towards his left..i was behind him few meters away..since both of us were on the same line, I couldn’t spot that little thingy ahead.... by seeing him, all I knew was some fun out there milliseconds ahead of me and I too leaned ditto... during the course , I see lotsa stones thrown out there to pull my leg..bike was still not stright and i kept going till avoiding the divder..we both just managed to come out and I immediately turned back to see vicky’s future. Fella happily riding on the wrong side of the road away from the divider after seeing us doing circus :D

Now its tea time at Gundulpet..it was cold and we were about to enter Muthanga wild life. Decided to keep it down on the turns since we can always expect an elephant or Bison on a turn. We ride watchfully…after 20mins, we see a dark bulky element few mtrs ahead of us on the road side. Yeppee…its elephant. We just crossed over it.
After 10 mins, again we see couple of elephants. This time, one of those elephants was standing very close to road..we stopped..a slight panic situation within us on what next? Myself trying to turn back for a safer distance..but we just overtook one van and that van was blocking my bike from behind.

ok lets go..we pulled the throttle to max..we were screaming while crossing the elephants. Stopped at a checkpost where forest dept people were standing. They had put up a small fire and we were standing close to it to kick the cold. Later reached Kalpetta and slept for the day…but not before a long chat.. and it was 4am when I hit the bed.

Morning Vicky & Praveen went out early to checkout Pookut lake and Lakkidi view point. Later I joined them for Meenmutti water falls. A small trek..and the falls looked charming by this post monsoon season. Later we started our return journey by 7pm..at the entrance of the forest, there was a small hotel and we camped there for about 1.5hrs. Simply chatting without having the mood to ride back. Reached mysore by 10:30. In-between some horrible roads..to make things worse, it was raining as well.. Praveen & Vicky decides to stay back at Mysore on their relative’s places.

I was actually worried too much about, that day’s night ride. Because I havent slept even couple of hours together the previous day..and this meenmutti trek added lots of tiredness as well. I know if i start feeling sleepy, then it will be very difficult for me to handle. But the Redbull I drank by then did some magic. It was 11pm and I was coming out of mysore and just entering this sweet 4lane stretch towards Bangalore....not many cars around..road was almost deserted.. I had just cleaned the visor which was muddy after rain ride.
the view was just amazing..my eyes were lightened-up and I was seeing everything on the road. Didn’t feel any pain or tiredness in the body. Unlike my usual solo cruising speed which is always around 90, I just took it at max this time. After some time , this Indica..errr.. Indicab was overtaking me casually when i was still on 125 :-) …even on a slight turn, he will come down drastically from 130 to 80..but I will just keep it at 120 constant and go past him. Later he will catch-up and fly above 130. He was my only company on that night and it was little fun.The last time I saw him was near Ramnagar, stuckup behind a truck and finding no clue on how to overtake.. throughout this ride, the ipod music inside my helmet kept things pretty interesting. Reached home in no time and went to bed.

Didnt click any pictures this time..just took one video of Meenmutti falls and i will post it soon.

Kumaraparvatha by Newbies..

2006-11-14T08:35:00.000-08:00

The planning was fun..we bikers normally pick whatever nearby and dump into cramster and start..but this time we need to discuss/buy & all..funda is its trekking and we know least about it.
Friday 10th Nov 10PM in KSRTC bus stand..could see many of backbags & mat rolls around.. :D
Found our group..a big laughter by seeing the new gear on us. The Team is of Vicky,SriNidhi,Pradeep,Gavrav and myself Arun. The "Raja immsa" took us towards Subrahmanya..by stopping on every road side hotel enroute and making sure the passengers are properly irritated.

Subrahmanya came by 7AM..as a biker, couldnt understand why it should take 9hrs??..early breakfast after a logical brushing..validated the first info we gathered from blogs..subrahmanya toilets are indeed clean!! All set by 8, a brisk walk through some nice looking houses with vegitation..Vicky stops couple of worker women walking back and asked them(in his usual
route enquiring style in bike trips) "Kumaraparvatha eshttu thoora"(KP how long?)..answer came promptly from women.."svalppa mundhugada vogi..ashtte"(just little ahead..thats it!!) :D
..there was a board which pointed the Kumaraparvatha(KP) direction..which eventually landed in a gate of a farm house with a dog barking inside. The old lady, re-directed we newbies to a visibly nonexisting cycle gap path which goes up in approx 60degree angle and asked us to proceed.

The group takes the potta session near the board and starts to climb. First half an hour, there is no sounds except "thuss busss issh" :D Pradeep declares the first break and i gulp a half ltr of water. There onwards, it goes as a tragedy..keep the head down and go up up & up..take a turn..another 60degree angle..every incline, Srinidhi starts abusing the world/life with
all the bad words he knows . We realise, we are carrying too much of a load..but nothing to do..cant throw it down..cant eat also..we are proceeding slowly and gradually..after some 2 hrs we are able to see little grass on the sides..till then, we were walking through a dense forest.The sight of the grass logically gave the impression that the grass land is nearby which
means we can walk in plains with both hands swinging & all..but damn, the grass is just a grass but not the grass land..it took us another hour to reach the actual grassland.. aahhh..now i could take out my camera. Life is relatively back!!

Few stone made structures, few odd plants than the forest ones..and you know you are around bhatt's house. The chill water and food looked not so far..Bhat's place indeed looks nice..he grows all types of plants..few huts inside the vegitation..a nice person to mingle with. When asked for food, he said "take a sleep for an hour..will be ready!!".. oops, did we reach too early? he says.."yep..its not even 12"..we gave him few MTR stuffs and asked him to cook...that should not take time.. after a light lunch and a mini rest, we proceed further. The latest news we gathered at bhat's house is that the forest department lately discovered that the trekkers are looting golds & diamonds from the forest and hence they decided not to allow anybody to camp inside forest! a slight confusion on what to do..5 member Team produces 5 different ideas..i appreciate the productivity there!!..ok fine, lets start walking first..

The checkpost came with couple of friednly smiling guards. Little soap for them, and they mobiled(??) the officer whom i guess was snoring in the nearby woods. Officer came..now soaping didnt really help..vicky had to shell out some of his corporate level Marketing/HR skills..and the officer agrees to give formal permission after lotsa conditions like "dont tell anyone/dont post in internet/dont tell bhatt".. :D guess he is in deep confusion..he should try "ooosa" sometime. Guards checks all our bags for liquors/weapons and returns empty handed. Here on the internet, let me give a clue to those guards..next time try smelling the Tropicana 500ml cans also!! :D
The team enters the open land.Its all green..small small nice looking football grounds..and bathches of thick woods..its all fun except that the distant view of mandapa(aka mandapp by blogs).That distant view and the hot sun was tiring..actually the earlier converstaion with the guards was little encouraging ( me:how much time to reach mandapa? guard: 45 mins.. me:
??!!!! really?? how much time for us then? guard: may be 1hr..mmmm..may be 1:15 hrs..(as if he is a superman with wings) me: ahha..its pretty close then!!) But here the sun is baking us..very slow progress..few clicks..few cigs..and lotsa sips of glucose mixed water.

Vicky and Gavrav moving on a nice phase..Pradeep keeps the center ..myself & Srinidhi lagging behind..all had some 100mtrs gap between. Mandapa comes soon..a stream before with a chill water was just fantastic..i almost had a logical bath there. Mandapa looks hilarious on a green slope, with strong and magestic pillars with the yellow/red KA flag flying on the top with full josh. Team takes a nice little break there. vicky is in full spirit and wants to go up & up..
It is just 4pm and with nothing better to do, team decides to move(again a typical biker decision..never stop before its well into dark!!) Now the wind has a mild chill effect..though the incline was still maintaining that stubborn 60degree angle, it was fun to walk. I just enjoyed. Vicky too confirms he enjoys the trek so far. couple of sexy looking peaks and we are on Sheshavparvatha(SP) top. A peak where many a people decides to go back.
It is around 5:45pm and we are all in a high mood..its chill and the sun is like a red hot tomato..the team feels like the first peak is conqured and jumps here & there in joy to celebrate it. It is a nice moment. I take lotsa sunset pictures. Reassuring the KP peak identification with other trekking group we proceed..The next water source and the camping spot is right between KP and SP inside the deep woods. By loooking at my watch which reads well after 6, i am in full josh to enter the forest in dark.

The narrow path goes down through the woods..torches on, and we move slowly..picking the dry logs on the way. The place is dense and pin-drop silence..after 15mins, we manage to find a little flat surface where we can pitch the tent. Srinidhi and Gavrav arranges the stones & logs to make fire. Myself, Vicky and Pradeep picksup the torch and go through the woods to find water. At places, we stop standstill without any sound to listen the water sound..but no use..the forest is dead calm except the occational scary leaf falls. After 20mins, we decide to return and practically found that we lost our way!! Thank god..a trekking without a "path loosing" is half down!!
Shouting & screamming in monkey/ape style to communicate with base camp..no use..manage to crawl back some distance.. and little more communication efforts..and the response comes from a totally diffent direction from where we are crawling towards..errr.. turnback..communication media was developed with sounds and torch lights..aahha we are back! Srinidhi says "thoo nan makkala..neer illuva??" means "thoo(spitting).. my sons..coulnt find water??" I sat down and took a breath (read smoke)..after 10 mins i pick the torch..now pradeep companies me..we are walking on a different scary direction..10 mins gone..there are only confusing sounds..15mins gone, yep its the sound of water stream..Jumped into the nearby bush and discovered the little water flowing..its cool and clean indeed..fillingup all our cans and walking back to the base camp with the joy of victory.

Now the real fun starts as we get into cooking act. Newbies trying all their software skills..like blowing the air from mouth..blowing with a paper...Srinidhi tries to throw petrol on fire and endsup in a suicidal act..his hand catches up fire and he was burning alive to death..he manages himself to stop the "fire in the hand" without any wounds and started abusing the fire/petrol/world/life.. :D We somehow manage to keep the poor little bowl & water warm. Soon the MTR packs and Cup noodles are ready. Gulped them one by one. Mean time, pradeep and Gaurav manages to bring both of the tents to some 'ok' looking shape. I actually tried this 'tenting' thing previous day on my terrace but a failed attempt that was. :D The whole drama ends by 10pm and the team settles down inside the sleeping bags. Myself, being a late nighter,couldnt settle down. Sitting half-in/half-out of the tent in that dark and chian smoking is just thrill..I keep talking to the other closed tent and making sure that they are not going to sleep so easily. The forest was indeed scary but fun. Had a small walk around and by 11pm, i enter the tent. There are 2 small stones under the tent which eventually positioned right under my head..with nothing better to do with that, i go to sleep.
There were 2 funny events happened when i was in dream land.
1. I was snoring in a totally different rhythm which made Vicky & Srinidhi awake for a good amount of that night.
2. Earlier I had placed my white towel on a tree branch..later, at late night, Pradeep comes out for piss and gets shit scared by the white ghost hanging on the tree!! :D

Morning wakeup call comes from the other tent.."bossu..open the tent..its full mist" I open the tent..it was indeed a nice view..all the thickgreen trees with white smoke filled..fantastic morning that was. I walk alone through the woods towards the stream..little scary but full of josh..later, team joins and manages to have a practical brushing. Srinidhi invents himself so fresh after 2 days and decides that hereafter he will do 'face wash' only once in 2 days..sounds logically good idea. Team now walks in full josh towards KP and reaches the base of the peak. The view of top was mist covered and mindblowing. We climb this rocky surface with 4 hands..top portion of the peak is covered with bushes..couldnt find a proper way..finally decides to crawl through the bush and here we are..Kumaraparvatha top!!! the mother/grandmother of all the treks around. couldnt believe we newbies did it. Lotsa potta sessions..bread gulping sessions..and some serious discussion on which side is bisle ghat and which side is thadiandamol.. Another group joins and says they took the pictures of our tents by standing nearby as if they had put it.. :D

Team starts descending by 10:30..reach the base camp and pack the tents. Lotsa garbage left now..vicky comes to act..he tries to put the fire with the remaining petrol..what a magic..the fire catches up and burns without and disturbance..dont know why it was so adamant yesterday night. Anyways, we are burning all our garbage..making sure no half burnt plastic remains. The return back is pretty fast..though i stop at many a places to click. Reached bhattru mane in no time and we find lotsa rice and sambhar ready to be gulped..and ofc we gulp..i guess, i went for 4 rounds summing up to aprox 1.5kgs of rice. A nice break on a 'all side open' AC hut..the return leg was expected to be a cake walk..pradeep,gavrov,srinidhi starts early. Myself & Vicky sits down for a chatting session with bhat and few other trekkers. Another trekker who wants look like a trekker, had that trekking cap..Vicky feels he is the one who fully desrve to wear that cap!

After 4pm, we realise we dont have much time left(no headlights u see).. we still need to cover lotsa distance to reach subhramanya. Few potta sessions with bhat..packed up drinking water with glucose mixed in it. Vicky litterally running back down in his usual "point to point" rip back style in bike trip returns. I am seeing lotsa shortcut paths to cut the distance which are little more steep than the normal..took all the shortcuts..the forest is just burning hot..i take few breaks here & there..walking through these thick woods alone is interesting. Overtaking few of other trekkers and i see pradeep..and some more time, finds the rest of the team. Already the legs are literally hanging from the thighs as if about to cutoff and fall down..after that 2 hrs climb down, walking was in a pathetic style like one leg going east and another going west. Only opion i have is to jog down which logically looks like a nice idea. Time for redbull!! ..the can i preserved for the entire trek for some challenging moments.. ;-) gulped it and got the wings rightaway..here we are on the base!! Myself and pradeep just sat down around the nearby stream and started chatting..little later it turned out to be a loud laughter session till the nearby farm house pserson shouted on us. Mean time, Srinidhi calls up and says they managed to book the last room left unbooked in the whole subrahmanya lodges..and we limp through the crowded subrahmanya and enter our lodge.

There are lotsa pictures hanging on the lodge about the VIPs stayed there..Rakshita,Sachin,Hemamalini,Juhi chwla,SriDevi and many more unidentified faces.. Team takes bath in 10 mins turn and rushes towards the temple before it closes(8 pm). should i say, the temple was just divine..looked like festive time..all lighten up! Team tries their best to keep the concentration towards the god and away from the nice looking local gujilees around..adding to
that, the team was forced to be half naked and left in a hilarious state..but i must say, it was a very nice experiece to worship Subrahmanya..Muruga..infact, his dad Shiva sitting all alone in the KP top with only occational trekkers visting him.. direct dharishana to dad..but for son, we need to go through a long queue..it was a nice experience to spend the day with nature and god!!
ofc, "Raja immsa" takes us back towards logically civilized place Bangalore..by stopping on all possible bus stands enroute with no passengers gets in or out..god knows for what they stop!!

So,.. to conclude the story...its a big satisfaction to expereince Kumaraparvatha's top which indeed was a long term wish!! Thanks for the supportive and enthusiastic Team!

Unchalli & Gokarna in monsoon..

2006-10-13T03:39:00.000-07:00

Fri 06th Oct 2006:

Got out of office in a holiday mood..rushed home, picked up the luggage..helmet/jacket/glove..soon on the road with the usual getup. Caughtup with vicky at Nelamangala. Fast run but lotsa breaks. Reached Shimoga by 1am.
Next day a lazy start by 10..got inside jog falls..not much water but the weather conditions were interesting.were able to see the clouds bursting out in a closeby hill..then riding into those wet twisties through fog.

Sea bird resort - gokarna..i am adamant to avoid this place and stay beach side.kept the luggage and moved to Oom beach. Should have gone for that Sangam beach trek..but the late lunch and chill-out session at beach took toll on us.the sun brought back that golden evening..foregin couples taking evening bath..the beach is calm and beautiful..
spent lotsa hours in the beach..back to the shack..another long chat..with no time, it was 11:30pm..just thoughtof leaving the place as we were the last..but then it started pouring..the lights were off and eveybody got into their shelter..we were still on the shack..no lights..arrogant sea nearby..and it was pouring like the end..stuck-up for 1.5 hrs..later decided to ride back in rain..5kms of shivering ride and got into bed.

Another lazy resort morning..tasty breakfast..the coconut chutney tells me again this is what a chutney is abt!some flower shots..back on the bikes..this time, tried to reach sangam beach in bikes..only to find the ferrys are not ready to lift us. reached kumata and had a long discussion on what next.Didn’t dare to enter Yana at this point of time..no mood to ride towards bangalore..my map says "Luchington falls" but never know what it is..locals clarified its Unchalli and suggested us to try..fine, lets try..we were on the remote twisties now..!

The ghat sections around yana were at its best..green & wet..stopped at yana deviation..another check ourselves.."shall do?..or not?"..ok fine..its a strong "NO".. we were on towards Unchalli..one of the best decisions made in the recent past..the road towards Unchalli goes through some beautiful villages and farm houses..everything was under mist..the green farms..the last 2kms before falls was slippery and i had to put down there once.

There the steps starts..the forest vegitation has covered and gulped the steps..need to crawl through..its wet & misty and goes down..pulled out couple of leeches..once on the view point, we are not seeing anything except a white screen..,but hearing this loud noise like a non-stop thunder storm..suddenly the mist cover removes, and there we see the beauty.. mother nature has lotsa new stuffs and keeps our jaws down all the time ..the view point is like on a green & misty slope surrounded by series of hills covered with dense forests..and right in our front, the blasting..never had such kind of experience.

Falls Video..

Snaps..

Rohtang pass in a truck!

2006-10-02T09:06:00.000-07:00

After abt 2000kms ride in this Himalayan trip, I am here at this last pass.. Rohtang...3:30pm 14thSep..its some 20kms to the top and I am coming from keylang.
..in a bike which has got almost dead clutch plates. The power generated from the bike is lesser than what we get from pedal cycling.
It can move in plains but not in uphill..and I have to make this 20 kms uphill. The occational trucks from behind & front making my life miserable.
Bike moves at snail speed with rpm reader crying at 7k’s…at steeps ,getting down and letting the bike to go by itself. Peru, my companion comes down to help often.

Every twist counted me more..stopped the bike and started tweaking the cable..the same thing I am doing for the past 1000kms to get the
last bit of juice from the clutch plates. Now, no more tweaking helps. Peru took my saddle bag and petrol can. Told him to go ahead and wait in the top.
Pushing the bike uphill there didn’t look like a nice idea..gets gasping very soon. During these hours I didn’t fail to grasp rohtang..
The offerings from this pass is no lesser to other places in Himalayas. Its all green..and it was misty..a slight drizzle..a perfect romantic evening.
Stopped at a viewpoint kind of place and started smoking. Its cold..and getting colder every 10mins..It’s the 13th day of the trip and still its going interesting.
Rohtang top is another 4kms ahead. Decided to stop the next suitable vehicle and upload the bike. At the point where I was sitting, I could see almost all of the road bends to this side of Rohtang. At a long view, found a truck..it took 30mins to reach my place only to find the truck is not empty. Another cig and another truck..this time, the driver stopped. Now the conversation has to get going whether I know hindi or not..told him “manali..lift??”..the reply came back to back.. “200rs??” :-)

Sounds like a great deal..driver and cleaner jumped out of the truck..now the worry is how to lift this 150kg bike into a 5feet high truck base.
Driver was very helpful..he stopped subsequent trucks came by to get support..finally the bike was in and tied well.
There was a surprise waiting for me when I jumped into the front cabin..driver took out a bottle and started emptying it..”oops..what am I seeing..”
I convinced myself that the amount he used is not that great..i know how big it could work.. lets go..!! :-)

Now I am sitting in the front cabin with driver on right and cleaner on left. The scene was quiet interesting and the truck started moving in the twisties.
Within a km (that is some 10 twists), driver stopped the truck and asked the cleaner to check if bike is still standing or what.. J (damn..how could I forget this..)
He was right..bike had almost fallen and hanging…now the driver took some extra ropes..tied the bike in all possible directions.
another check after 2 kms..this time it looks good. By this time, peru already started walking down in the freezing cold to meet me.
Took him also in the truck and dropped him in the top to pick his bike.

Now the real long journey to Manali started..the views while coming down from rohtang was just stunning..the sun was stretching its stay for long and the red clouds didn’t allow him to show his face. There were some 100 small batches of clouds…all crawling below our height..just stunning view.
Took out the camera and tried to click..it was a failed attempt as the truck was shacking like an earthquake. By this time, the cleaner got impressed with
the camera..showed him a full review of pics taken in the leh–rohtang leg. The cleaner supplies a lotsa goods to the driver on the move..like hand grind tobacco, lighted cigs etc..Driver prefers filter-less cigs and cleaner prefers only pedi..i got one each from them as I was running out of stock.. ;-)

It was dark and we stopped at a tea shop..peru was right there. had a nice tea and some snacks..back to truck. Driver has a really tough job..the roads there are full of twists..and for every twist he has to rotate that thing for 10 times and release for another 10 times..poor chap..with bikes, just a gentle push on one side, the bike moves. ;-) moreover, for every single oncoming vechicle, he has to stop the whole truck standstill and wait till they cross..sometimes, he has to go back to give way.
..and he has to do this process for hours & hours..dont know how they manage..
Now the cleaner leaned forward and opened some slot..did something and then started hitting the same..it took a min for me before realizing he was actually trying to put some songs…wowww…punjabi truck..i am sure some ‘gujal’ songs would be there..but my expectations failed..the poor thing didn’t turn-on at all.

By now, I realized even I have this IPod and I didn’t use it for 3 days. Took out and put it on my ears..now the cleaner had a ‘look’ on me.
ohh no.. I am not “showing off” man..i smiled at him..he asked what is it..i said “songs..”..he asked how many songs there.. I said “many..”
then he asked further which I couldn’t understand..only thing I could do is, pull out the left ear plug and put it on him.
He was really surprised to the quality of IPod music.. after sometime, he pulled out the earplug and gave it back. Guess Jennifer would have irritated him.
I had a huge collection of english pop,tamil,hindi,kannada movie songs..i love to listen whenever I am on bike..it was really different to listen songs while on a truck.

Finally Manali came by 10pm..pulled out the bike.
Now I asked peru to ask driver on how much he needs(thinking, he should have increased the rate after hard work)..driver replied promptly..”I said na..200rs”
Paid him and also gave him the 5ltr can full of petrol. Paid tips to the cleaner..infact it took 10mins to convince the cleaner to get the money from me..
he was not at all ready to accept money..the friendship I earned there.. :-)
What a wonderful chaps..life is always sweet if we live with such people around…
..and I tell myself that I should be humble enough to others like what they showed me!