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.... )