Devarayanadurga - Burnt rubber, loose rivet and docile monkeys

The last post's dilema was successfully resolved at 0840 IST on Saturday when Aditya, Saveen and yours truly met at Cauvery Emporium, M.G.Road. We decided on Tumkur. A town located 65 kms from Bangalore on the Thane-Chennai NH-4. Our plan was to have no plan.

First things first. Breakfast. We were hungry and decided to eat at some place on the way. Since we had to go via IISc to reach Tumkur road, I decieded on a Shiv Sagar type hotel near MS Rammiah Institute of Tech (Thanks to Satish for introducing me to the place!). It was masala dosas for all of us and the usual discussion about the national affairs. The conclusion was that we solve problems, but the wrong ones.

From there it was straight on to Yeshwantpur, Peenya and then onto NH-4. Aditya, like last time was lost at the Peenya signal. Saveen and myself suspected that we would see him next at Tumkur! Soon after the Peenya signal we saw some guy on a bike skid and almost crash into the road divider, but no damage done.

I wonder how people can work at Parle-G. All I could think of while passing that factory was biscuits... I guess it was my olefactory sense doing the talking!

A few kilometers on NH-4 and then we approach this structure that looks like a toll booth! I didn't know that the NH-4 stretch to Tumkur was a toll-road! My heart knew no bounds, at the same time I was not sure that bikes would be allowed, thankfully they were and for free. Were we lucky or what?

We halted at the toll booth for some time to take a few snaps, and a few seconds later we spot Aditya, behind us. How and when did that happen? I guess I'll let him do the talking in the comments section. (He was in a minor accident... and we missed him, that was scary..)

Then on we sped forward as a group. Maintaining the highest speed we could, at time determined by the traffic and at other time by the capacity of our bikes. I touched 112kmph for the very first time on my bike! We managed to maintain a steady 100kmph till the end of the toll road. It was the best ride so far. We stopped nearly every five kms, either to soak in the country side atmosphere or for photo ops. Saveen had a way of putting it, “It is like coming from a village to the city, you want to see all of it!”.

There is this diversion into Tumkur city that Saveen didn't know of, so he went straight while Aditya and myself, took the right turn. Literally and figuratively. This road brought us to Siddaganga Institute of Technology, Tumkur. We decided to wait there for Saveen and instructed him to that place. While waiting, Aditya bumped into an old classmate, currently persuing MBA at SIT. Small world? Just wait till the next one! Saveen arrives after a prolonged period and we head to the a resturaunt opposite SIT. It was named “Woodlands”. It boasts of an internet cafe, etc, etc... After a round of coffee/tea we decided to head towards Devarayanadurga. As we were leaving we bumped into Nishanth, a 2005 pass out from SIT working at Huawei. He was for a short period in my project, before being put, rather unfortunately to another project. Small world? No. Mini world!

Then, we head out towards Devarayanadurga after a few wrong turns we were back on the right road. We had to pass through Siddaganga Mutt. There were easily more than 2000 young boys studying there and our bikes became an instant attraction. They were looking at our bikes with unbeliving eyes. Royal Enfeild, Plusar and Unicorn could surely use that in their ad campain! It was quite an experience. These boys succumbing to worldly the charms of bikes. Isn't that a story straight out of Tinkle?

The ride up to Devarayanadurga was peppered with impromptu stops by the riders, either to see green fields or to just keep quite and listen to the sound of nature. We could do that on the road. That is how desolate it was. I never ever imagined such roads to exist in Karnataka.

The title: Burnt rubber - My shoe on my silencer. Loose rivet – Saveen's bike's silencer guard. Docile monkeys – The monkeys who aren't half as clever as their brethren at Nandi Hills.

The way back was good too. If anybody claims we have bad roads, I agree. At the same time I claim that we have great roads too. Only, nobody ever sees them. How can they, when they refuse to get out of the city and ride like we did to Devanarayanadurga.

NH-4 is part of a grandoise government plan. If that plan turns out half as good at the toll road, then we will have a kick ass highway. And then, maybe I'll get to write about a Bangalore-Bombay-Delhi-Jammu-Shimla-Calcutta-Madras-Bangalore trip!

It was a great ride to Devanarayanadurga. No people. No trash. Great view. Beautiful roads. High speeds. The hill was good too. There was hardly anybody there. The hill has been maintained very well. There are dustbins every where, and those are as clean as are the surroundings. It has unwittingly escaped commercialization. I wonder for how long?

Devarayanadurga - Burnt rubber, loose rivet and docile monkeys