Whimsical bunch of fools (Work in progress.... )

Bangalore - Balmuri - Nagarhole - Gonikoppal - Irupu - Kalpetta - Banasura Dam - Edakkal - Sultan Bathery - Muthanga - Gundulpet - Chamrajnagar - B.R. Hills - Chamrajnagar - Mysore - Bangalore

Distance: 847 kms

Duration : 4 days and 3 nights

Bikes
One Royal Enfield Thunderbird
One Bajaj Discover

How To? and the what to...
If you take a map and plot our progress you'll notice that we have moved in a lollipop like fashion. Such a plan is actually quite fun, there is no onward leg and there is no return leg, well almost. The only part where we felt this onward and return leg fatigue was on the Bangalore - Mysore state highway.

Balmuri - Just after Srirangapatinam (if you are heading towards Mysore) take a right turn, towards KRS. This turn is almost 20 kms before the Mysore outer ring road. On this road at the Belagola village take another right turn and 3 kms on you will be at Balmuri.

Balmuri is 7 kms downstream from the Krishna Raja Sagara Dam( built by the legendary Sir M. Vishveshwariyah). It is the perfect location to relax, swim or take a boat ride for a few hours, especially in the mornings, when the place isn't crowded. The place doesn't start seeing the usual tourist action till 11:30 am. There are plenty of places to eat, which open only at noon.

Nagarhole - At Hunsur (on the way to Madikiri from Mysore) you'll need to take the road towards H.D. Kote. Nagarhole, 50 kms from Hunsur, is a beautiful national park infested with rouge elephants and man eating tigers, or so the forest guard claimed when he turned us back from the national park gates. Sadly this mistake cost us 100 kms and 3 hours of riding time and set the mood for a melancholy trip. No bikes are allowed!

Gonikoppal - Nothing much to see around this place, a good place to take a break for lunch though.

Irupu - Around 27 kms from Gonikoppal, Irupu is an idyllic village nestled between scenic coffee estates. It is the perfect weekend getaway from Bangalore. There are plenty coffee estates offering "home stay" facility. The Laskhmantheerta waterfall is a must see. So is the trekking trail to the nearby peak.

Kalpetta - Is the popular tourist hub in Waynad district. It is centrally located, with respect to the tourist spots. All types of accomodation is avialable, right form the 5 star resorts to dingy lodges. Waynad has "shitloads" of places to be seen, including
* Banasura Sagar Dam - Great views. Absolutely no sound. Perfect to meditate. Built with stones.
* Edakkal Caves - Imagine an enormous boulder wedged between two other equally enormous boulders. Now imagine 3000 year old paintings and carvings. One the result of an earthquake almost 30000 years ago and the other thanks to a bright caveman. The trek is next to treacherous, especially if you want to summit the peak. Not suited for children below 10 nor old people. You can see the entire Waynad district from the top of this peak, well almost!!
*Muthanga wild life santuary - If you seen one, you've seen them all... haha... not here. Worth a visit, in the season during the early mornings and late afternoon/early evening times.
*Pookode Lake - Boating etc etc. Ideal for kids.
*Chembra Peak - At 2100m above mean sea level, it is the highest peak in Waynad.

Sulthan Batheri - An alternative to staying at Kalpetta. Plenty of places to stay and a tad bit cheaper than Kalpetta. We'd recomend the food at Hotel Regency.

B.R. Hills - Another national park in the Chamrajnagar district of Karntaka. It is 90kms from Mysore. The ideal time to reach here is either early in the morning (after 0600) or in the evening (1700) the park closes to vehicular traffic at 1800 hrs and there is no place to stay once to reach the top, unless you have a prior booking with Jungle Lodges. Most of the wildlife make themselves visible only late in the evening, so it is adviseable to stay at Jungle lodges for a night. The roads are in a pathetic state, though.

What about us?
I shall, try to, chronicle the trip from the night of 19th to the night of 23rd with as much impartiality as is humanly possible.


Proluge
"Lets go some where guys", said Yak.
"Ya man. Lets go some where", chimed in Tatti.
"Hmm... How about Coorg during Diwali ?", Shart Circuit asked.

The humdrum of life in Bangalore had evidently taken its toll. As most techies do, we sought relief in an escape to the "country side". Only that, nobody usually escaped during Diwali, that too with friends. Diwali, like all other Indian festivals, is meant to be celebrated with family. So what, if you have been doing just that for your entire life.

"Chal, Ultra Fast Charger ko phone lagathe hain. Vaise bhi, I have to talk to him about his bike", said Yak as soon as the last syllables had slipped from my mouth.

Ultra Fast Charger is our friend from Mumbai, the heart and soul of all mirth and entertainment and a master of BS. His famous RX100 was rotting away in Bangalore, waiting to be sold at a pittance to the local thug of a mechanic. Yak was in charge of the bike till it met its sad demise. Yak, we must say, had very cleverly parked the bike at his acquaintance's home. So, that it wouldn't be a case of out of sight, out of mind.

Sitting on the steps of Shart Circuits'* home on a cool September evening Short Circuit, Houdaaaa Tatti and Paapi Yak called up Ultra Fast Charger on his fishy network. The fishy network (which, if you are not aware really stinks) - keeps sending the signals out to the Ratnakar Sea# instead to sending them inland. Yet Paapi Yak persisted, believing in the inherent goodness of his Kutta network.

After a while, an exasperated Yak muttered, "Kya yaar, iska number lagtha hi nahi hai!". Something very fishy, we all concurred. Again.

On the twentieth try, yes that is how much we all value Ultra Fast Chargermaam, we caught hold of the man. "Encha ollare", greeted Yak.

Yak proceeded to ask Charger, "Apun log Coorg jarela hai... Atta kya tu??" (Us dawgeies Coorg going be... Coming what you?) Charger was looking for this opportunity from a long time, the big bad city lacking in decent charging points and his own charge having been depleted by overexposure to a certain sections of society, lost no milliseconds to confirm his participation in the vile act be being away from home during Deepawali.

As a rule of thumb, it doesn't take much to convince any of us, to partake in hair brained schemes. Especially, if it is hatched at the drop of a hat. Accordingly, it didn't take much convincing. Ultra Fast Charger was ready to get onto the next plane to Bangalore. We had to remind him that Diwali was a few weeks away!

The details of the plan were sketchy at best at that instant, but Ultra Fast Charger had a very important question for me, "Abbe, hamare gaand ki suraksha ke bare mei sooch!" - Please, do think of a way to save our butts.

The roots of a statement as controversial, can be traced back to the earlier, similarly hair brained trip to Gopalswamy Betta in March. My bike's shocks had softened to a point, where riding pillion would propel the stocks of Amrutanjan and Iodex to the circuit breaker limit. The riders of that trip carried numb butts for a week. In that context, Ultra Fast Charger raised a very pertinent and emotional point.

I attempted to allay his fears, "Tension nako leneka re bhidu. Naya Gas shocks install kiyela hai apun. Ek dam rap chik ho gayela hai apun ka bird. Gaand ko malayee pe bhitaya hai, aisa lagtha hai" - Don't take too much tension dude. I have installed new Gas filled shock absorbers. You'll feel as if you are sliding on whipped cream.

"Bhagwan thera lakh lakh shukr kare, re baba" - God will bless you a million times over, dude.

We were four of us and just one butt-killer bike. Tatti, was all charged up that we weren't even considering his bike - a Bajaj Discoverer. "I did 100 kmph on the Mysore road man", he claimed. Knowing Tatti, there was no point arguing. Plus, the other alternative was Yak's TVS - Centra. Not much of a choice, so the Discoverer it was.

So, I revealed to Ultra Fast Charger, "The other bike will be Tatti's".

Over the next few days, Yak did some research on Coorg. Well, he researched a lot more than some! On a lot more than just Coorg. Yak claimed to have a friend in the hills. So, we would apparently have some "inside" help. How nice. The Coorg - RX100 link was finally making sense.

Day One Assemble at Short Circuit's home

Day Two Balmuri and Dinner

Day Three Rain rain go away

Day Four Banasura and Edakkal

Day Five B.R. Hils and back home

Epilouge
I was sitting on a plane the next day to New Delhi, thinking of past five days, wondering why we tortured ourselves by embarking on a bone shattering, arse numbing ride. I was quite sure the rest of the gang were thinking the same. I was also quite sure that we'd all agree that it had been worth it. No Pain No Gain!


This is how we make a whirlpool.... hehehe...


At Edakkal --->
Kini, Googs(back), Me and Kates after the trek
*Names changed so that only the four characters know whats going on... hehehe...
#Hahaha... Thanks HP for letting me on this secret!

Whimsical bunch of fools (Work in progress.... )

And it rained... really? where?

As promised, here is the installment of words and pictures which will describe how four nuts set out to reach Yercaud and only three reached Ottacamund...

Paddy, as I have mentioned earlier, was the instigator of this ride. We were scheduled to get four days of holidays on account of Independence day and a days CL on Monday. As the marked day to depart crept on us, Ketva (K)realized that his bike papers were not in order. Surprisingly, he did not vacilate on the idea of a trip! Paddy though had become non-committal for the past few days. That left five people and two bikes. In the meanwhile Dinga, after being appraised of the monsoonal plans opted out, which suited us fine (Hopefully Dinga never gets to read this!). The location though, was not certain.

As luck would have it, Gurubhai, from the Cyanide factory up north, was visiting the nether regions. Googendra was back in town after his tryst with the Himalayan Yaks and Yetis. Sufficient enough to call for a party, which sadly never happened, unless you call dinner at Nagarjuna followed by ice cream at Corner house a party. Nevertheless the entire gang met up for the first time since we departed from the hallowed portals of Manipal and that was more important. That it also served as a venue to recruit more bakras for the trip is a different story! While Googendra regaled us with his stories which involved a Yak, a Kraut, and a rickety Jeep, the food was served. Paddy, unfortunately had had an accident (minor) earlier in the evening, so he ruled himself out. And no one else displayed enthusiasm in getting sore butts, leaving only four people and two bikes on a trip to where? God knows!

Over ice cream, we debated about the sanity of even going on a ride given the weather forecasts. It was settled that we would proceed only so far as there was no rains. The minute we encounter a sheet or rain, that shows no signs of subsiding, we'd turn back. (Hello! Doesn't matter if we turn back, we'd still be stuck in rain) Our convoluted logic is evidence enough of the mental torture a "conventional" IT job puts us through! We were that desperate to get out of Bangalore and smell the unpolluted air of the countryside.

Nowhere near the destination are we? I told ya so! I wanted to go to Ooty, but I had promised the guys Yercaud. Baburao opined that there was pretty much nothing to do there. "You wont like it. I bet!", he exclaimed. Then Oodies, my ex-roomie, volunteered, "The roads suck big time man". We were now really not sure. Then he gives us the missing piece in the jig-saw puzzle, "But that was when RG died". Which led to another heated debate, about the exact date and time of Mr. Banana-man's assassination. God bless his soul. All said and done, we decided to stick to Yercaud. The rendezvous point was decided upon as Airport road, outside Leela and we went our ways back home. I took a slightly longer route though, having a long chat with Gurubhai and riding on Bannerghata road for the first time in my life! Got back home, packed the saddle bags and then hit the sack.

I am little hazy about what happened in the early hours of Saturday, it certainly comprised of a visit to the local petrol pump (only Shell will do for his highness), a partial breakfast at home (courtesy Grandma) and being present at the Leela Palace with Kates as the pillion a good hour later than decided. Vatsa, poor bloke, was already there. And after the initial "Hey macha. Haven't seen you since college" moments we set out to pick up VSK from his abode near Kids Kemp. That done a few minutes later, we tackled the first problem of the day. Breakfast. Where do we halt to breakfast? Kates, as usual, knew the perfect place. It was off the outer ring road, near Googendra's ex-home. Some where en-route, it started drizzling. I kept thinking, "This isn't good. No. Certainly not good". I sensed a similar unease wafting the in air, at the breakfast table. Someone, don't know who, suggested, "Why not Ooty?", I could have danced all night, I could have danced. Danced all night... Well you get the picture, I was elated and seconded the idea without hesitation. Then came the inevitable, choosing the correct route and reorienting ourselves for a trip to the misty Nilgiris. The easiest route, we determined, was via Mysore and Nanjangud. Thus we set out, to Ootacamund at the proverbial drop of a hat riding an extra 40 kms in bad Bangalore traffic.

The best part of leaving a busy bustling city teeming with traffic, is that you never realize where the city ends and where the countryside begins. In our case, this phenomenon was accentuated by not taking the more nondescript national highway and taking the more modern state highway to Mysore. The state highway is the state government's gambit to undermine the work undertaken by the NICE group. Whether the move pays off politically or not, only time will tell but the commuters benefit immensely. I will not digress into a political discourse on the merits of government-industry competition, but surely we the citizens have a lot to gain, provided the competition is healthy. There isn't much that I can add about the charming stretch of tarmac that lies between Kengeri near Bangalore and the Mysore outer ring road. The only updates I can provide is that the roads have been redone in the towns of Chennapatana and Ramnagaram, which had borne the brunt of last year's treacherous rainfall. The road is more or less complete, baring a few diversions near a couple of bridges. The bridge on the river Cauvery to the east of Srirangapatinam has been thrown open to traffic towards Bangalore. The old bridge still services the traffic towards Mysore and should suffice for some time to come.

As usual we halted at two places, whenever Kates and I travel this road, we invariably take a halt at these two spots! One near a desolate stretch adjacent to the railway track a little outside of Ramnagaram. This is the first stop, while our butts get accustomed to the uncomfortable seats of the Thunderbird. If is a good point and we left our biological marks by the railway track. After a little readjustment to the distribution of luggage, we set off onwards towards Mysore. This was Vatsa's first time on a long ride on his Thunderbird, so we kept a more manageable speed or 80kpmh. It was quite tempting to let the throttle go where it loves to go, but economy and sense prevailed. 80, I believe is a good speed for any vehicle on our roads. The rider is more at peace at this pace, our bikes are stable and muted thump of the Thunderbird is music to the ears.

Someplace before Mandya our reverie was broken by a red scooter, which zipped by. Overtook a Royal Enfield! The bikes were insulted and we took off behind that rouge scooter, which had broken the shackles of bike hierarchy, to investigate. I confess, I went behind that scooter to ascertain its make, since I had not seen it on our roads before. It is an entirely different story that the pillion was a chick and I'd like to believe that I am not that desperate! After a few kilometers I did manage to catch up with the red scooter, it was the new Kinetic Blaze. What a beauty! The scooter, not the chick, she was wearing a helmet. If anyone asks me what I think of the Kinetic Blaze, I will congratulate the bugger on making a fine choice for a scooter. It looks sturdy, and apparently handles quite well at high speeds (for which I can vouch). But not ideal for the nifty zip and zap that city traffic requires. Just before Mandya we halted at the other usual spot. This halt let us catch our breath after being beaten fair and square by a scooter and take stock of our physical conditions.

A few months back, I made the blunder of going on a similar long trip, with beat shock absorbers and a prerequisite for this trip was the new gas shocks. The gas shocks were good as far as performance was concerned, but a sad side effect an increase in the height. This resulted in an anticipated shift in the center of gravity and the consequent imbalance that the bike displayed, especially at high speeds. We discussed this issue at length at this halt apart from the our own physical status. VSK was having a tough time sitting on my bike. He was complaining of a backache and I suspected that the new shocks were effective enough. He agreed to sit with Vatsa, while Kates sat behind me and we set off on the last leg of the trip towards Mysore.

A little ahead of Mandya we saw, for the very first time, a pileup. Four cars were involved, thankfully there were no injuries. A cursory observation revealed that there was a speed breaker ahead and all the four drivers had missed noticing the speed breaker ahead sign, which is entirely possible, given that it was camouflaged behind a plethora of political banners. The first one would have braked hard when he saw the impending travel to outer space only to be nudged hard in his posterior by the trailing car. From then on, it was a perfect example of car concatenation. Three cars , two Honda cities, suffered major damages in the engine and boot regions, while two cars got away with broken bumpers and a dented boot. The first car “responsible” for the pileup was no where to be seen, and we caught up with it near Srirangapatinam, the boot region was a mess! I have a sinking feeling that we'll see more of these pileups as the roads improve.

Without further ado, we reached the Mysore ring road, and took a short break to decide the future course of action. VSK, as you recall, had complained of a bad back, which was thanks to the late night “party” at Corner house, and the early morning wake up call. He was emphatic about being unable to go any further in this condition. He volunteered to go back to Bangalore by bus, and the cold hearted people that we were, we agreed to that proposition. At that instant of time, it looked quite practical, he couldn't sit on the bike, and there was no point in going back to Bangalore behind a bus. The other factor, that was to be considered was, that Dana, VSK's ex-rommie from Manipal, was working at Infosys, Mysore and VSK called him up and Dana invited VSK to stay over. So the next stop was the Infosys campus at Mysore. It is around 12 kilometers from the ring road, towards the North. We did not go inside the campus, but the view from the outside revealed a contemporary architect gone berserk!

Dana, was waiting at the gate to receive VSK and after the usual “Hey macha, long time no see. You have put on weight since college”, we went our way. Towards the ominous looking gray clouds that seemed to envelop the Nilgiris, reduced to three people on two bikes.

And it rained... really? where?

Why not Waynad?* (August 12th - 13th) Ooty instead!

* To be pronounced with a thick Mallu accent

It had been quite some time, since I had exercised the bike. Plus, I was out of ideas at work, so I knew I had to unwind. And what better way than on the good ol' bike!

Prolouge
Paddy, of the "Gopalswamy Betta" trip fame, set the pace for this trip. A few weeks back, he suggested that we go on a ride some place. Kinimaam and Kets were all excited. Googendra decided to a Ladakh on us with some Kraut. We thought of all possible places, including Hampi, Yercaud and Coorg. But, a few weeks is a long time, so by the night of 11th, it was Kets, Satish, Vatsa and me, on two bikes, headed off to Yercaud.

Route map
Banglore - Mandya - Mysore - Gundulpet - Waynad (Kerala-Karnataka border) - Gundulpet - Bandipur - Mudumalai - Kotagiri - Ooty - Kotagiri - Gundulpet - Mysore - Kadamane Coffee shop



Vatsa, Kets and I at Doddabetta (2600+ meters above sea level) -->

Distance
700 kms

Time
36 hrs

How to?
Ooty is approximately 300 kms south-west from Bangalore.
To get there, take the Mysore-Bangalore State highway number 17. Mysore is 135 kms away. En-route I'd advice you to take a halt at either Kamat, Coffee Day, MTR or Maddur Tiffanies.

Mysore city has a good outer ring road and SH-17 joins it. There is a big Via - duct after which you need to take a left turn. At the end of the ring road (ironic, I know), take a right turn. This road will take you towards the Mysore Palace, ask someone for directions towards Ooty, and you'll be onto NH-212.


End of ring road!

NH-212 will take you through Nanjangud to Gundulpet. Just ahead of Gundulpet, there is fork in the road, one towards, Sultan Bateri and the other towards, Bandipur. There is also a huge board mentioning Ooty, but you'd be lucky for it not to be obscured by a big lorry standing in front of it! Anyways take the left fork (the same path towards Gopalswamy betta) and you are onto NH-66 (or is it NH-67, the map I have is conflicting!) A few villages ahead, you'll get a right turn towards Gopalswamy betta. You could go there, like we did in March.

Bandipur is 31 kms from Gundulpet. There should be no charge to enter this wildlife santuary. It is a straight road towards Mudumalai National Park, abutting Bandipur, in Tamilnad. At the border you'll need to pay up some. Perfectly legal, though!

At Mudumalai, there are two routes to Ooty, one 60 kms via Gudulur and the other, 39 kms via Kotagiri. Kotagiri is quite steep, and most cars take that route.

What to do?
* Doddabetta, from where you should get a panaromic view of the vallies (if weather permits)
* Botanical Garden, a treat to go with ones girlfriend/wife/kids.
* Train ride to Mettupalyam, the same route on which SRK danced on "Chaiya, Chaiya, Chaiya" in "Dil Se"
* Wellingdon Army Training center (if you've seen "Roja", you've seen Wellingdon!)
* Boating in the hycinth ridden, stinky, lake.

What to buy?
* Homemade chocolates (I suffed from an overdose!)
* Varieties of Tea, right from dust to leaves and from plain to flavoured!
* Eucalyptus Oil

Where to stay?
There are plenty of hotels in Ooty, but make sure you have confirmed bookings!
There are dingy places, there are 5 star places. We stayed at "Hotel Hill Palace" (which has a tie up with Manipal Sikkim University! Small world huh?). We were quite lucky to get a room, on a long weekend, with out booking in advance. And we got it only for the night! Had to vacate by 8 am!

What is the right season?
* Summer is best, if you want to sightsee.
* Monsoon is the best, if you want to see beasts in the National Parks.
* December is best for you know what :D

How the hell did we reach Waynad, and not Ooty? And how did we reach Ooty and not Yercaud in the first place?
More on this and pics later :-D

Why not Waynad?* (August 12th - 13th) Ooty instead!

Elephants at Mulehole

So, we went to Ooty... hehehe... and not Yercaud... Last minute change of plans, more on the why when and what in the next post, tentatively titled "Whynot Waynad", to be pronounced with a Mallu accent :-)

In the mean while here is a video of some elephants we spotted near Mulehole in the Bandipur wildlife santuary.

Elephants at Mulehole

Where.... O... Where... will we go

Another weekend's here... And me is taking off again on the dear old bike...

The other actors are Vatsa, Ketan, Satish and two thunderbirds...

And this is how the satellite image looks like


According to the CNN weather report, it shouldn't rain in interior TN this weekend.
And we could expect to see a lot of rain in coastal Karnataka and in the western ghats.

Yercaud is the place that we are planing on going to escape the rains.
Perhaps we could go to the Satyamangalam ghats instead... we might be catching the perimeter of the so called "rain ring".... Don't know...

We are off at 0700 from my home... lets see how things work out...

Where.... O... Where... will we go

Badravati - The Steel city (April15th,16th 2006)

The only reason I went to Badravati was to meet my cousins, uncle and aunty... And it being a two day (inclusive of journey time) trip ... obviously, I didn't have time to explore the place...

The how to...
Badravati is a small town, taluk HQ, 274 kms north west off Bangalore. To get here (from Bangalore), one must proceed towards Tumkur (via Yeshwantpur, Dasarahalli, Nellamangala) on NH-4. Tumkur is around 60 odd kms from Bangalore, the highway is clogged till Nellamangala, but frees up considerably on the 4-lane toll way to Tumkur. The travel time to Tumkur should be approximately 1hr. At Tumkur, take the Tumkur bypass. Follow this bypass (a little bumpy) and proceed towards Gubbi. This should put you onto NH-206. The next big town is Tiptur (again a relatives infested area for me... luckily, I know none of them... hehehe...). This should be approximately 180 kms from Bangalore. Thre are a few good hotels, in case you wish to take a break. From there proceed towards Arsikere (You need to take a right at a fork in the middle of Tiptur). Arsikere is around 40 kms from Tiptur. Arsikere is, again, a taluk HQ by a lake, hence the suffix kere. Next in line is Birur (70 kms from Arsikere). My Great-Great-grandpa was a native of this town. Anyways, from Birur proceed towards Tarikere (20 kms) and then to Badravati (36 kms). After Tarikere, there is a fork (again!) One takes you towards Shimoga and the other towards Badravati. The Badravati road is a state highway, and hence is in bad shape. There are a few railway crossing on this route, with the railways and the road laid almost parallel to each other on most sectors. You'll be quite lucky to spot a train, or maybe even chase it :-)))

As for me...
I rode (RE Thunderbird) non-stop, well... almost, from Blr to Badravati. The two stops were...
1) to take a picture of a tractor and
2) to answer the stupid cell phone.
The luxuries of travelling solo.

The Tumkur road was a treat :-). But NH-206 was better! The roads were narrow, empty and well maintained. I found a lot of street side vendors selling enormous grapes, tasty tender coconut water and a lot of mallige huva. As I approached Birur, the roads were lined with beautiful homes, colourful boganvillas and flowering trees. Spring was in the air. I left Blr at 7:45 am and reached Badravati at 12:15pm. The next day I left Badravati at 2pm, with ominous black clouds on the horizon. I raced the clouds till Arsikere, and then all hell broke loose!

It poured and poured and poured all the way till Tumkur. I couldn't turn back, nor could I proceed. I had to ride on, come what may, to make it back to Blr before nightfall, since, I abhor riding at night, and am quite capable of falling asleep!

I changed clothes at the outskirts of Ghandinagar, yes a village by that name in Karnataka! And yes, I did strip on the highway... luckily it was an isolated spot :-) (figure out, who is lucky... me or the potential witnesses) Put on a jacket (not water proof) changed into dry socks, (my boots had more water than Kadakwasla and KRS combined) and set out in the light drizzle, which was, as always, a mirrage. I was soon engulfed in a wall of water droplets, hurting whereever and whenever they made contact with my "protected" body. I was shivering, cold, wet, needed to pee badly and riding at a minimum of 70 kmph. I stopped the bike at some isolated spot after Tiptur and before Gubbi. Gingerly relieved myself at some stump, in full view of any passing vehicle. By this time, I did not care. The thought of Bangalore (100 kms away) was as distant as the last rays of sunhine. It was almost 5 pm.

I just kept riding from that moment, almost mechanical, with my brain switched off. Quite a wierd feeling. I was happy when I reached Tumkur! The thought of having the option of halting the night, and sleeping in a dry bed was extremly tempting. Don't know what came over me, perhaps it was the abrupt dry spell, or the sight of a realtively lesser shade of gray (that seemed to hover over a distant Bangalore), but I puttered on forward. That, I was riding a RE, gave a large doze of confidence. After all Bangalore, was only 60kms away, and it was just 6 pm. I still needed to wear some dry clothing, if I were to aviod falling sick. And so with all frontal lobe activity comming to a halt, I stripped, yet again, by the road side (NH-4 this time) and changed into some dry cloths. I wonder, why I was carrying 5 sets of clothes in the first place for a three day trip (that got cut down to two)

My initial baravdo was soon watered down, with another doze of rain. I had stopped caring a long time back. I reached Nellamangala by 6:30 pm... and subsequently did the rest of the 20 odd kms (to home) in the next two hours. By 9 pm I was back home, taking a hot shower and was off to la-la land by 9:30... What a weekend it had been...

Addu-ella saku bladeu... Badravati mein kya karaun???
Good question... A few options...
1) Go to Jog falls (200kms)
2) There is some Tiger park some where... quite like Bannergatta I hear...
3) Visit the steel plant.
4) There is lot of good green grass in this part of town. Nah... like Lendel once said, "Grass is ment for cows".
5) Halebelur is quite close (60kms) from Birur
6) Hosadurga is also quite close (compared to Jog)

Where do I stay???
There must be some lodge, somewhere in Badravati... nothing spectacular, but surely some place to sleep... It isn't as if people don't live here...

Badravati - The Steel city (April15th,16th 2006)

Windy Hills - Himada Gopalswamy betta (March 25th 2006)

As promised earlier, here is an abridged version of that bike ride to Gopalswamy betta...

The literal translation of Himada Gopalswamy betta would be "Misty Gopalswamy Hill". Apparently, it does live up to its name for most part of the year. There is a temple at the top, dedicated to Krishna (I think). It must have been one treacherous trek through forests and hills in the olden days. People were sure, quite dedicated to GOD back then :-)



We (Googendra, KiniMaam, Paddax and I) visited this hill (on two bikes, one RE-Thunderbird and one Honda Unicorn) sometime in march, the peak of the southren summer, yet we were overawed by the beauty of the distant Madumalai range...

First the how to's.

The closest big city is Mysore (89kms). From Mysore, proceed towards Ooty on NH-212. You should pass through Nanjangud and Gundulpet. A few kms ahead of Gundulpet, before Bandipur, you should see a big Karnatka Tourism billboard on the right hand side, in the middle of a villiage. Take this right turn and keep riding/driving. There is a fork some where around 4kms from this right turn, select the road on the left. By this time, the hill should be visible. It is 10kms from the base of the hill, where there is a forest department checkpost and toll gate, to the top. The roads aren't that great, but there was some repairs being carried out. However, the riding experience is excellent. The gradient is almost 45 degrees (or more) in places, so make sure your bike can handle it :-) There are a few hair pin bends, so be a little careful. Shouldn't take more than 2 hours from Mysore.



Now that i am there, what?
If you are adventureous enough, you could camp here, with the permission of the forest officer at Bandipur. There is also a forest dept guest house (in a delapidated condition), with no running water. Once again, its use is entirely dependent on that forest officer in Bandipur. So, if you plan to camp, make sure you take all the water you need, else you'll have to fight the elephants for some muddy water :-))

On a good day, you should be able to spot a herd of wild elephants aroung this hill. We went on an "off"-day. Only one elephant :-( but, we came across a lot of elephant poo, probably from the same grass decimating machine we saw.

One word of caution, don't leave light objects unattended for any period of time. No. It is not the people, nor is it the monkeys. It is the wind!! It is so windy, so windy, it could take a thick jacket away :-)

Am I in TN or Kar???
Good question! Airtel. Yes, even the windy hill is connected :-(. Airtel thinks HGB is in TN, but actually it is in Kar. There is this small little boundary that you can see, demarcating TN and Kar.

Any historical significance?
I am not sure, but, to our non-archeological eyes, it looked like Himada Gopalswamy betta, used to be a fort at some point in time in the ancient past. You can see a mote carved around the hill. Or, perhaps it could have been built, to protect the camping devotees, from the wild animals. I wish I had found out more.

What about food and water?
Food? Water? Watitiz??? Carry your own stuff, but for God's sake don't dirty the place. It was quite clean when we went, I sure hope it remains that way!!

Windy Hills - Himada Gopalswamy betta (March 25th 2006)

Manipal Mist (Jun 24 - Jul 4, 2006)

Two years ago, while leaving Manipal "for good", grateful for the four painful years that went by so very slowly, I was quite sure I'd never come back. Ever. No wonder, I am no soothsayer! To my credit, I never went back for a little more than a year. Not even for my convocation, for I was a thousand miles away. However, since last November I've been to Manipal four times! Stayed there for an aggregate of 15 days, wondering every moment, how I managed four years in the first place.



The place is hot, humid and it never stops raining. I don't even know what I was thinking when I chose to study there, must have been the REEJEE shock! All that, however, is in the past. I had a good time, in my own eccentric way, and thats all that matters.

The place has changed beyond recognition in two years. The biggest shock, is to us MITians, no more girls in the OLH/NLH!! No more Maal-Gaadi! A 13th block, Innovation center, Student supply center. No more Juice center, cafeteria! Syndicate Bank has been cut to size, quite literally! In a few years, we might find it hard to believe that we actually studied there.



No more Bioscope I heard, not that it bothers me, I had been there only once, to see "Mohobatein". I know! Of all movies to be seen at BioScope! No more shack point. High rise apartment complexes instead.

Change, that, I guess is the character of Manipal.

End point seems to be the new development spot. There were some earthmovers at work there. Wonder if the future generation of students will get to see that panaromic view of Manipal, that refuses to leave our minds.

What strikes you more, as an outsider (i.e. me, since i am no longer a student of MAHE), is the stark contrast in the road quality inside the university and that on the outside. The district officials should be ashamed of themselves for letting such roads be.

Of the half a month that I've spent at Manipal, as an outsider, most of the time has been spent at Kasturba Medical College. Why? I am not even answering that!!!

The staff at the hospital do a commendable job. Right from the Doctors, to the sweepers. Each one of them is dedicated to their jobs. The nurses were extremly friendly, efficient, always smiling. What a difference between the Manipal, Bangalore nurses and the KMC nurses! The PG students... well they all seemed to be quite competent, obviously they are being mentored by skilled surgons and doctors. That, I'd say, is the difference between MIT and KMC. The quality and the experience of the people who guide the students can't be more contrasting.

I chanced upon a sweeper cleaning a rubbish bin with soap and water! I don't think I'll ever see a BMP worker doing that. There were no Paan stains on the corridors either. The hospital charges are almost next to nothing, compared to the services and facilities that are extended to patients.

By the way, I "discovered" Kini canteen. The Goli bajjis were heavenly, the dosa's enormous. I was wondering, why I never chanced on that, while I was studying! Wouldn't have ever made the trek back to the TAPMI mess every afternoon to eat "good" food.

And when I left Manipal for "good" for the second time, there was mist, while there were none the first time around. Yet, on both occasions, I was glad to so say goodbye. I know I will go back, if only to get those recomenadations letters!!

Manipal Mist (Jun 24 - Jul 4, 2006)

what else has happened in the mean while

After a long hibernation I was reminded of this travel blog I maintain, by an old acquaintance from college days. Apparently the modern-art self portrait is supposed to mean "Book peepuls" in Kanji. I intended it to be "In person" in Chinese...

That being the logic behind why I am back, I can't find a good enough reason why I wasn't here...

To fill in the blanks....

Feb 7th... Manipal (to see the cute chicks from KMC)
Feb 22nd or 23rd... Chennai (officially) hazzy about the dates...

Whatever happened in this period I am not sure, this one and a half month was a blur... too much work... sigh...

March 25-26... Gopalswamy betta (bike)
April 15-16th... Badravati (bike)

Of these I shall chronicle Gopalswamy, Badravati and Chennai... someday...

what else has happened in the mean while

My-Chick-Chick

Oh yes... My Chick Chick... hehehe... Thats what moi has been up to. No. Don't get wierd ideas... The past six weeks have been Mysore, Chikmagalur and Chikmagalur for me... and unintentionally I am back to the alternate weekends out of Bangalore routine!! hip hip hurrah

Week of 17th December - Mysore
Nothing new to add from Mysore. The Highways is still under construction. Perhaps 80% complete. The coffee at the Coffee Day sucks big time. The Ice cream at the MTR joint next to it sucks bigger time. The Maddur wada's good though. And the Ford Ikon 1.3l is a little under powered. And check out the outter ring road from Sidharthanagar... Mysore anyday vis-a-vis Bangalore and everyday!!!


New years eve and New years day - Kemmangundi, Belur and Shravanabelagola
Kemmangundi
It was a mine once upon a time. It means, quite literally, red mud pit in Kannada. It is rich in iron ore, littered all over the place, in fact almost any pebble you pick up contains iron in some form. The mining activity is non-existant these days. What is in vouge are the coffee plantations. Plenty of them in these parts of the world. Chikamaglur and Coffee are synonymous, although Coorg is more famous. Chikmagalur offers a lot of places for camping and treking.


Hebbe falls.

A pal of V, from Motorola, had arranged this trip. And very well aranged to. There were 12 people , including me, in a Tata 407 planning on celebrating new year at Hebbe. Hebbe is around 300kms from Bangalore. The road upto Chikmagalur is good, but from there it gets a little tricky in the ghat section. It took us a good 10 hours to get here. 6 upto Chikmagalur and four from there to Hebbe. To reach Hebbe falls we need to trek down around 4 kms. Yes, there is a trail and you could take a jeep too. However, treking is recomended.
You have to be careful while treking, since the trail is mostly gravel, especially the shortcuts! as we found by misfortune!



The falls is beautiful. I am yet to see an ugly falls :))
damn... gimp decides to give up now :( this photo tomorrow....

This falls is in the middle of the Kodays coffee estate. There is no accomodation available here. Nor any food. Best bet would be to put up at Chikmagalur town and carry some food. If you are a camper, then there are plenty of places. Gets really really cold at night though!

Then there was this bitch, which kept following V, actually dogs all over the place were attracted to V... I wonder why hmmmm..... GOD had a theory... hehehe...


Good bye 2005 at sunset point...


Hello 2006 somewhere near Belur...


Belur is a town with history... a lot of it. It was the place where Vhishnuvardhan, of the Hoysala dynasty, built a temple... I suspect in memory of his beautiful wife Shantala, also know as natya rani. Read about Shantala if you have the time. A remarkable story!
The Vishnu temple is quite breathtaking. If you don't want to stare at yet another beautiful temple then take the services of a guide. All I can say about the place is, "inspiring". Those people in the 11th century had to be inspired by divinty to erect a monument like the Belur temple. My photograpy does not do justice to it :(

Shravanabelagola
A town/village know for the Bahubali monolith. It is pligrimage center for the Digambar Jains. It is long climb to the top of the hillock. It is around 130 kms from Bangalore.

Weekend of 14th January - Chikamagalur
And so I came back to Chicks again. But, this time the agenda was to visit my relatives. I was the offical driver for my grand-mother, mother, aunty and uncle. Learnt how to change tires on my aunty's Ikon. Spent a night at my cousin's tota saw a golf course in the middle of now where, which was wierd. Heard later, that they plan to introduce Hang-gliding... Now that is what I'll be looking forward to!
Food on the highway? Then, Kamats (near Hasan) or Mayura (near Yediur) are recomended joints...

My-Chick-Chick