Madhugiri - RTMC Announce ride

For many reasons, yesterday's ride to Madhugiri will be one that I will not forget too soon. It was perhaps one of the best one day rides I've ever been on.

I reached the designated start point 20 minutes late, and with barely enough petrol in the tank. Felt lousy, making the entire group (31 other bikes) to wait for me to tank up. This is the first and last time that my tank was/will be empty before I head out.

Madhugiri - RTMC Announce ride at EveryTrailMap created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks

The traffic jam from Yeshwanthpur to Dasarahalli was hellish, it took us almost an hour and half to negotiate that stretch. Mostly in first gear. We were, I am certain, the center of attention for other similarly disgusted and stuck occupants of the road. One couple were heading towards Goa - and they made sure they told me about it. Weird, how suiting up, makes utter strangers roll down their windows and chit chat genially at traffic signals. "I wish I could swap places with you"; "I hate these jams"; "Are you all together?"; "Where are you guys headed?", being the usual theme. More often then not, it'll be an older gent or a young girl, initiating such an across-the-window-conversation.

May isn't exactly pleasant to ride, and worse to be stuck in a traffic jam. I was cursing all those buffoons who didn't fill fuel or arrived late - including myself. I just hoped that it'd all be worth the wait.

We regrouped outside A1, just before Nellamangala the toll gate on NH-4, only to realize that we should've regrouped after the tollgate, an error which was quickly resolved.

Breakfast was at Kamath's near Dobspet. Nothing spectacular about the place - it could accommodate all of us; and at the same time, that was the biggest plus point. But service, was a little slow.

From Kamath's we headed towards Kortagere, bypassing Tumkur. The route was scenic and fairly engrossing - you never knew when a pothole or a muddy patch would catch you off guard. Things improved after Kortagere, and in no time we were at Madhugiri. Soup, had arranged for a very interesting reception party for us - full flower, garland and the works! Undi got the Kuthagie mele Flowers treatment, the rest of us were offered a red rose - Chacha Nehru style. One band-baja troupe was missing onlee :P



The next stop was the black buck sanctuary. A place, one assumes, relegated to an obscure appendix of a neglected register placed in a forgotten corner of a dusty government office. Many of us got to spot a black buck, some of us... ahem ahem.. a few of us got to trek through the park with a guide, who showed us some more black buck - brown though and a wild boar. A naturalist ( Krishna's pillion) among us also pointed out the presence of the brain fever bird. Very interesting bird, called the hawk cuckoo chirps "brain fever". Didn't spot it, but certainly heard it. Learn't something new!

Lunch was arranged at "Bakkar Saab ka Bangla", a structure from the Raj era nestled in the midst of a forest, approachable by a muddy road from a non descript turn off on the Madhugiri-Sira state highway. Seldom you'll find off-roading part of an announce ride, but this one sure included it :) The guys loved it. The food was fantastic. Soup did a fantastic job of organizing the whole thing.

Madhugiri - RTMC Announce ride at EveryTrailMap created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks

After the usual round of introductions, we started back by 5 pm. The return leg was fairly uneventful. We did have one bike with a broken accelerator cable, something I had no clue how to fix. But then stepped in Shayam and the KA-18 and KA-19 bike dudes, who did a great job sorting out the mess. On the way back, after Kamath's, Kudz and I clipped in the dark, and whatafun it was! I must say, Kudz rode great, kept sufficient distance and yet didn't lose me!

Caman the more rides onlee!

P.S. GPS tracks from my blue tooth GPS unit + E51 :) and pics from the lousy cam on the E51

Coincidence - Almost 3 years ago, I burnt my shoe on Deverayana Durga, and this time I burnt my jacket on Madhugiri... and never in between - both in the same vicinity...
http://su-on-the-road.blogspot.com/2005/09/burnt-rubber-loose-rivet-and-docile.html

Madhugiri - RTMC Announce ride

Gopalswamy betta - route map

Here is the route map to Gopalswamy betta. I see a lot of people getting to this blog hoping to find the route to gopalswamy betta. I hope this helps. This will take you from Gopalswamy betta to Mysore.

Gopalswamy betta to Mysore at EveryTrailMap created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks

Gopalswamy betta - route map

25000 views for the Football plane

Last year, on my way back via the Bangalore express*, I noticed that the plane in which I'd be traveling had its nose painted like a football#. Plus it was raining at SFO, so puddles everywhere. Puddles + jet exhaust = ripples and, I took a video and posted it on youtube. Surprise, surprise a year hence, its had 25000 views! A vid like that and 23,584 views - wtf? Strange indeed are the ways of the world, but what the heck, looking forward to the day when it crosses 25000, which I suspect is not far away. Muhuhaha...



* Lufthansa - SFO to Bangalore, 23 hrs with one pit stop at Frankfurt :)
# yaya... soccer ball onlee, just that some viewers @ youtube got confused
An article (with a cheesy title - "Making Money, the How-To Way") in the nytimes talks about people raking in the moolah by posting their how-to videos online... hmm.... now thats a thought :P

May 2nd '08 - views is 25,463. Don't know when it crossed 25K, but then one milestone achieved - now caman the 50K

25000 views for the Football plane

Lion Bullet

Came across this funky brass worked 350 Std Royal Enfield outside the Power Grid office, on race course road today. I hadn't seen anything like it before, so I thought I'd click a few snaps and post it. Lioness in the front, and a lion at the bottom :) Sher-Khan's bike...

Wonder it is was just brass paint....

Again, pics from the Nokia E51, so quality is so-so

Lion Bullet

The Big Banyan Tree

I had been to the Dodda Aladha Mara a.k.a. Big Banyan Tree this morning. It is 8 kms North from the Rajrajeshwari Dental college on the Bangalore - Mysore State highway #17

To the Big Banyan Tree at EveryTrailMap created by EveryTrail:Share GPS tracks

As the name suggests, it is just a big banyan tree. Just standing there. Doing nothing. Harming no one. But civilization seems to have been a bit harsh on it. Men have erected a compound wall around it, as if to tell the poor thing that it shouldn't grow beyond those confines. To make things more clear to the old tree, they've built a road around it, abutting that compound wall. Lakshman rekha pei ek aur lakshman rekha. And, when the time comes to widen the road, they may even contemplate cutting the majestic thing down.

As I approached the tree, I spotted plenty of nurseries and plant shops along the road. I told myself that I'd stop on the way back, but never kept that promise - I thought it was pointless to stop. Me on a bike. What if I like a plant, how can I possibly get it back to Bangalore. So, can't say much about the quality... so if you are a plant kinda person, go by car, not by bike.

Back to the tree - as one enters the banyan enclave, and if one is lucky enough not to have a noisy bus or honking jeep go past, one can hear the mynas singing, the squirrels whistling, and the wind murmuring. Stereophonic.. nah... surround sound style - 1001.1 channel. At night, I am sure this would be one scary place. No wonder you find a temple smack in the center, to do what it is supposed to do - ward of any evil spirits :) On the garbage front, the place was fairly clean, couldn't spot any plastic or garbage anyplace, maybe it had to do with the time - 9.30 am.



Sitting on the abundant benches within the "park", one cannot help but imagine oneself as hair lice, infesting the roots and branches of the majestic tree. Think about it... the roots look like hair (Hello?? Remember Dreadlocks?), and I didn't belong there... And no, I sure was't high on crack or grass... Anyways, I could also imagine myself sitting there in the cool shade, reading a novella, or perhaps a novel, if it were that gripping. However, I was currently handicapped - by not possessing either of them, so I chose to just sit down, and do nothing for a while. Which by the way, proved to be quite difficult and being alone didn't help either. If only I was the contemplative kinda guy...

My advice to people going here, or planning to go here - Take a book, an interesting book. Plenty of water and some snacks to munch. Food per se may not be available close by, but you'll find plenty of shops selling biskoots and the likes just outside the park. That said, beware of the rouge monkeys that infest the rootwork.

How to get there? As I had mentioned earlier, there are buses plying this route, and plenty of them. You could get here from either the Mysore road side or via the Magadi road side. Your own vehicle, is what I'd recommend as it'll let you be flexible vis-a-vis timing and other things.

Pics from my Nokia E51. Quality of pics is pathetic, but looks good at this size:)

The Big Banyan Tree

What Caves?

It has been more than four months since my last bike ride. Didn't even go to Mysore! But then, that doesn't mean I haven't gone anywhere since Nov' 07! Had been on a Kumara Parvatha / Pushpagiri trek. Then for a Goan X'mas, which turned out to be a tragic trip. I intend to chronicle the KP trek, someday.

To fill in the blanks - a lot has changed in these past few months, professionally that is. As a direct consequence, I can see myself riding or traveling a lot less, compared to last year. But then, fingers crossed!

Anyways, four months is a long abstinence from riding. Looking at the RTMC mailing list just makes me feel J. All over the place. So, this time, when the guys posted a ride to Belum Caves, I just had to, had to say yes. Can't explain that feeling.

The little bit of Googling and Wikipedia has revealed

• Belum is 100 kms from Kurnool and 270 kms from Bangalore
• It is a 3 km long underground cavern, with stalactite formation.
• The only acco, is a 32 bed dormitory run by AP-Tourism Development Corp.
• Must see the musical cave, where the seven notes can be produced by striking the stalactites.
• Don't know if we can camp nearby.
• These caves have been discovered, ok rediscovered, as recently as 1982 and thrown open to public view only in 2002.
• The nearest towns are Banganpalli and Tadipatri.

My favourite map site - mapmyindia, sorry Google Maps - you are no. 2 now, has revealed that Belum is 297.6 kms from Bangalore, which is what the RTMC mailing list claimed. The site, unfortunately doesn't let me display the route on my blog, so it will suffice to say that we head north on NH-7 towards Hyderabad, and then take a right on the Anathapur bypass to travel 84.7 kms on inside roads to Belum via Tadipatri. Unfortunately, I will be getting the GPS unit only in the week following the ride :(

Yennyways! Can't wait till the new weekend.... Itching to go onlee! Caman the rides! Caman the enjaiment!

Update -
Route map with google maps

View Map on Google Maps - Did you know blogger has a bug with google maps?

What Caves?

A murky sunset at Agumbe

Diwali Road Trip - Part II

Last year was Part I - the Coorg Waynad ride, and I couldn't let that glorious tradition die, now could I? So, I embarked on another ride this year that took me to Tumkur, Lakkavalli Dam, Agumbe, Karkal, Kudraemukh, Hanuman Gundi, Belur, Savan Durga and back.

The entire ride distance (home to home) of 920.8 kilometers was covered over two days with Kudz on his brand new Thunderbirde for company...

View a larger map on google maps

Day I - distance 428.3 kms, travel time - 8 hrs
Bangalore - Nellamangala - Tumkur (breakfast at Pavitra's Tatte Idly is yummmy) - Gubbi - Tiptur - Kadur - Berur - Tarrikere - Lakkavalli (281 kms) - Kuvempu University - Shimoga - Teertahalli - Agumbe - Hebri

The Lakkavalli dam looks tiny, but the reservoir is absolutely enormous! A sight worth seeing.
We were at Agumbe in time for the sunset (which was the plan), but some erratic stupid clouds messed up the otherwise spectacular sunset. Again, a sight not worth missing for all the gold in the world.

The roads to Mangalore were excellent, bar for a few kilometeres (around 50 kms totally) near Tarrikere and Shimoga.

Day II, III and IV was spent at Mangalore (via Hebri - Karkala - Moodabidri - Bajpe; travel time = 2hrs; distance = 80 kms) at my parents home (and Diwali)

Day V - distance 492.5 kms, travel time = 13 hrs
Hebri - Karkala - Kudremukha - Kalasa - Magundi - Balur - Bidarahalli - Gonibeedu - Belur - Hasan - Kunigal - Magadi - Savan Durga - Ramanagara - Bidadi - NICE Road - Kankapura Road - Bangalore

The Western Ghats are absolutely fantastic! The greenery, the early morning mist, the coffee estates, the tea gardens, the sheer silence, the hair pin bends... what else could one ask for!

On the way back only the roads near Mudigere on NH - 13 were sad. Real sad. A total of 10 kms out of 492.5 kms was sad. The rest were excellent.

If you want to enter south Bangalore from Hasan side, you must take the Kunigal - Magadi - Kengeri route over the Nellamangala route. The roads are empty for one and recently laid (as of nov 11th '07), so they are excellent. We took a wrong turn at Magadi and reached Ramanagara instead of Kengeri, which meant we traveled 50 kms and 1 hr more than we should have.

Since, I have given up on ever completing a post... I'll leave this one right here... I shall attempt to finish the Kodachadri night trek and then get back to this ;)

20th Nov 2007 -
Kudz is doin' his write up on this ride on his blog....
Part I - Dream: the journey - the beginning

Part II - 2

Part III - 3

Photos

A murky sunset at Agumbe

Sounds of a moonless night

The violent rocking of the bus, though unlike the gentle sway of a cradle, had put me to a rather, hmm... whats the word... ah right - "deep" sleep, last night. So, when I woke up this morning, I half expected to be in Mangalore. But wait, it was a little too dark to be 6:00 am! The pre dawn deep blue sky rose over the silhouette of a distant mountain range. "Crap!", I thought, "we are still in the western ghats. This does not look good. Not good at all."

Sitting in a bus, where the acronym AC expands to Air Chilling and not Air conditioning can be quite a strain on the delicate urinary system of most mortals. Why would anybody maintain 18 deg Celsius in a bus? Wouldn't 24 be more comfortable? The violent rocking hadn't subsided either. It had only gotten worse. "Looks like I'll be sea sick on land", I fretted as I drifted back to an uneasy morning sleep.

Last night, Googie, Vivek* and I set out from Gandhinagar on two different buses for Mangalore at 2300 hrs. The weird booking was thanks to the Eid and Dassera double whammy weekend and our last minute booking. Googie and Vivek were on the Ideal travels Volvo and I, on the Manjunath Road Lines Volvo. Googie, VMK a.k.a WeeWake a.k.a. Vivek, Paddy and I were to proceed to Kodachadri from Mangalore. Dynamic plan i.e. no plan was the plan!

The usual route involves negotiating the Shiradi ghats on the Hasan - Sakleshpur - Upinagadi route. However, oil laden multi-axel vehicles and an unrelenting monsoon has mauled it to Swiss Cheese. The road literally has holes in it, not potholes, just enormous gaping pits strewn with rocks. Even the roads to Leh would score higher on the motorable quotient! Understandably, the bus operators use the longer Mysore - Hunsur - Madikeri - Sulia - Puttur route to Mangalore these days.

Sounds of a moonless night

Back to the hills - Kodachadri

I still haven't finished my blog on the RTMC 6A and I am all set for the next trip. So typical that it ceases to worry me :D

So the plan a.k.a hope is to reach Mangalore on Saturday morning, Kollur by afternoon and from there trek to Kodachadri. Spend the night at Kodachadri, and return to Mangalore by Sunday afternoon. Probably stay the night and get back to Bangalore by the morning flight on Monday. Tentative plans, but leaving for Mangalore on Friday night is certain.

Sometime earlier this year, I had blogged about red tape on the internet - courtesy the Great Indian Railways. And it happened again! This time thanks to the KSRTC website.

To quote from the website. Yes dear, KSRTC has a website!

KSRTC has reached yet another mile stone in its IT field by introducing a new system named as AWATAR (Any Where Any Time Advance Reservation), by which any passenger can reserve tickets well in advance on-line from any part of the world through internet, to travel from any place to any place on the routes on which the Corporation operates its services. The passengers can reserve their seats using debit or credit card also. KSRTC is the first transport Corporation in India to implement the software of this kind.

Which, in my opinion means, that anybody a.k.a. you and I, can book a bus ticket online. Yippe!! No more visits to 4th Block to book tickets to Mangalore.

But, where - o - where is that convenient link. As you might have guessed, it points to "http://ksrtc.in/#", i.e. No where! No link, no convenience, no ticket. However, if you are an operator or a franchise, you have a live and working link - "http://ksrtc.in/AWATARWeb/login.jsp". Something fishy. Very very fishy. I wonder how many people got paid to "delink" the customer login page...

The reasons are quite clear. Crystal clear. Net savvy customers, like you and me, were booking tickets online. A loss of revenue to travel agents. And also, making the jobs of those reservations counter fellows redundant. Not just that, even private bus operators would have felt the heat. Insider information is that they are struggling to break even. Very apparent by the recent move to switch all buses to a combination of sitting on level 1 and sleeping on level 2. These guys are trying every possible trick to maximize, no! stay, profitable. Conspiracy theories can be aplenty, but the ground reality is that, an excellent opportunity is being throw away! For no reason, no reason at all. Sabotage, plain simple sabotage. They are the best state run transport corporation, they could have set the bar just a bit higher, but the great Indian Babudom got the better of them. Shame on them.

This discovery necessitated a trip to 4th Block. And that is where I witnessed the scam these KSRTC employees are attempting on unsuspecting cutomers, like you and I. A big board was propped up on the reservation counter - "Internet problems". Printed in Red paint on white background. All capitals. "Yeenteernet konecksion hoog bit aithe saar. Booking aagak illa...", the pan chewing reservation counter fellow stated unapologetically.

It didn't strike me as sinister at first. Then, it looked hilarious. "They have connectivity problems so often, they actually have a board painted with an excuse", I chuckled to myself as I walked to the nearest private tour operator to book tickets on a private bus to Mangalore.

After booking with the private operator, I couldn't help speculating the possibility of the ticket counter fellow being bribed by the private operators to divert KSRTC business to them. Possible. Anything is possible. Jai Karnataka. Jai Bharath!

Anyways, I have confirmed that even the private buses will take the Madikeri route. So nothing much to worry on that front. I have picked up a couple of interesting things for the trek ;) All excited... plus the met department predicts no rain till oct 14th... hehe... we know how that works out!

12/10, 2030 hrs.
Update : Heading out now... and orkut has an eerie warning for me - "Serious trouble will bypass you"... wooo... now that would be interesting ;)

Back to the hills - Kodachadri

6A - Pardeee time at Coorg

29th Sept
Almost couldn't sleep the whole of last night, the excitement was way too much for me to handle. Darn! I didn't feel that excited even the night before we left for Khardung La.. All I could keep thinking, while asleep (is that possible?), was - "Pardee! pardee! pardee!" or "100 bikes, 100 bikes", with the characteristic bullet "thump thump thump" echoing in the background.

The initial insomniac tendency was soon overshadowed by Kumbakarnatites, and I "Snoozed" my alarm (set for 5:30 am) at least five times before I realized I was running late. Off late, I seem to have been bitten by Shenoy's time bug - i.e. my time management skills have stepped into a bottomless abyss, achieving newer depths every passing day. 5 minutes magically stretches to 20, and 20 becomes an hour and so on, so forth... Anyways, I tried to redeem myself by hurriedly getting ready. Did things like never pealing my eyes off the 100m water proof wrist watch while in the shower, reading only one article while on the throne, giving each molar just two quick swipes etc, etc, etc...

At 6:30 I left my hall, hoping to be at town hall by 6:35; cursing Puttanchetti for having donated so much of his wealth to build a structure, where I, of all people, would arrive late; wondering whether the folks would take the NICE road or Mysore road to reach SH-17, if I didn't find them where they would have been 5 minutes earlier. With this mental trauma raging in his orange juice fed brain, his highness ties his gloves to his jacket and sets off at 80kph to town hall.

I was elated to see so many bikers still at town hall. Long live IST. Sim-simply and all I had taken off tension, very much against my "Tension leneka nahi, khali dene ka" motto. After a brief round of hellos, I decided that it was time to zip up. The jacket. Zip up the jacket and glove the hands.

The glove retrieve function was returning error. Nah, some thing wrong with function call I decided. Checked again. Shoot! I was one glove short. I was 110 percent sure I had Velcro-ed both the gloves to the jacket before leaving home. Tooblight! I had dropped one glove on the road. Somewhere. The loss of a glove woke up the dormant miser in me, inspired by recent readings of "The Undercover Economist" and "Blink". One glove wouldn't do anybody any good, unless they had only one arm. That too only the left arm - it was the left glove that had un-Velcroed itself. The finder of my fallen glove would have to
1) be a right arm amputee (good left arm)
2) know a person who was a right arm amputee in need of a glove, or confident of selling to a right arm amputee
3) have a single (matching) right glove,
to be compelled to keep it. Very slim probability, the orange juice fed brain concluded was blitzkrieg speed. Go get it!

So, I went looking for my lost glove. Should I retrace my path all the way home? or should I make educated guesses? Educated guess was the gut feel. Now, should I check after Canara Bank, or after Minerva Circle or after Krumbigal Road, or after RV teachers college? The gut spoke again. More like screamed out loud! "RV teachers college, RV teachers college". So I went with the flow, RV teacher's college it was. And, and, ya, ok you win. I am predictable, I did find that darn glove near Lalbagh. It was on the road, waiting patiently to be reunited with its beloved hand and yada yada yada. Yeh janam janam ka bandhan hai.. Bladdy saved 800 smakaroos, my gut feel and ultra smart thinking. Oops forgot ultra quick.

I headed back towards town hall. Late, but hand firmly in the glove. I reach, only to see that there are only a hand full left. Mahesh a.k.a. "Bra"*, was looking for an elastic a.k.a. bungee chord, to hold his bags firmly in place. I was sure I was carrying a spare bungee, so I momentarily got his hopes up. Only "chur chur ho gaya"...

* RTMC guys have funny nicknames

Nothing spectacular happened till Kamath's, the first regroup point. I took the customary Pee stop after Bidadi. Didn't pee though, just sipped on some Litchi twirl, waved at a few passing bikes, blew kisses at all the girls waving at me and waited for a train to pass me by. Then, chased it till Chennapatna, where it unfortunately stopped.

At Kamath's I met Toothpick, Sai, Lokesh, Manan, Sajan and Jispa. A few rounds of Tottu, Vada, Chai/Coffee and Rava masala dosa later, we left for the 2nd regroup point - the U - a couple of kilometers ahead of Srirangapatna towards Hunsur. And, this is where things picked up on the interesting scale. I tagged along with my new breakfast buddies, and we set, what I thought was, a blistering pace on the busy dual carriageway. Somewhere near Maddur, I spotted a very familiar figure walking away from a bike - it was Conrad a.k.a. Con-Rod and slightly ahead was Sushil Mishra. "Cool! More people from the Bheemeshwari ride!", I thought as I rode on.

After a boring and rather surprisingly quick passage of 2 hours, during which a bus tried to run me over, which culminated in me giving him the biker salute, we reached the next via point - the U-turn Mysore bypass. Here, I was reunited with my dear old friend - the train.



I also met the other guys from the Ealagiri ride (not chronicled) - Biscuit, Bhupinder and Haren. We were one of the last guys to arrive at this spot, and we made a habit of it ;)

From then on the narrow bypass road was full of surprises - a pothole here, a pothole there; a little bit of loose sand strewn on the road; the odd cyclist attempting to emulate Johnny Walker; the bewildered dog; and the paddy spread on the road in the hope that some passing vehicle will de-husk it. The good times unfortunately didn't last long enough, for we were soon on yet another dual carriage way - the new Mysore - Madikeri state highway.

I had at some point separated from the group and was coasting along at 80kph on the sparsely populated road, quite contently. Then, somewhere in the distance, far far behind me I spotted a yellow dot in my rear view mirror. We ride with the head lights on, so that we can differentiate who is riding with us and who isn't. So, I figured it was some body just chilling on the road like me, so I throttled up and found a new rhythm at 90kph. The single yellow dot became bigger, and two more appeared. A giant sun and two planets. Then I heard them. Yoops! I was about to be overtaken. Its fun riding in a group, so I decided to keep pace with these folks and maxed the throttle. My thunderbird reached its vibrating crescendo at 110 kph and insisted that I just wouldn't go any faster. Fair enough, because I wasn't lagging behind this time ;)

The vibrating reverie didn't last long. Mechanical limitations of our bikes hooted it. Literally. Jispa's horn detached itself and did a few cartwheels on the road. That is, till I ran over it! hehehe... I slowed down to inspect any possible damages, luckily nothing much had occurred. What am I talking! Nothing had happened. So I started back again, and sighted them ahead halting for a pee + sutta break. I slowed down to appraise Jispa of his missing hooter :P, he was in the know and also in the process of disposing his rear crash guard which was threatening to unfasten itself any moment. So much for the "continuous high speed" that RE insists we will enjoy with our bikes. hehehe... Quite a few bikes passed us, plenty of TN bikes - Mad Bulls passed us by. These guys ride hard, real hard...

After the slight elevation, at the base of which we stopped was the third via point. So again, we were one of the last fellas to arrive :D

And the estori will continue I say... break ke baad...

6A - Pardeee time at Coorg

Back to the Koorgee!! PardeeMC's 6A meet

The discerning reader will remember that Paapi Yak, Howda Tatti, Super Fast Charger and Shaart Cirkit had painted the southern tip of Coorg yellow (the color of you know what) around the same time last year, on their yet to be chronicled, super duper ass numbing ride through Coorg and Kerala.

This time one of the four... a.k.a. me (no.. no... don't do that enky pinky ponky to figure what i call myself) is heading back to Coorg!! Woohoo... ain't I lucky? Sadly, neither of my other three comrades are joining me, rather willingly not joining perhaps... muhuhaha. evil weevil ;)

But, what the heck. This will be my first big ride with the RTMC guys... Yipee! The well informed will know that RTMC, also known as PardeeeMC thanks to their superior party arranging abilities and even more extraordinary partying skills, is having its sixth anniversary (6A) celebrations at a classified top secret location in Coorg this weekend.

To indulge in the aforementioned kickass festivities we are all heading out to Coorg very very early tomorrow morning.... err 6:30 am to be precise... looking forward to a pleasant ride and a rocking pardee!!! In the pardeeMC parlance - Caman the pardee, caman the enjaiment!

Back to the Koorgee!! PardeeMC's 6A meet

Snaps from Leh on picasa....

The Leh snaps..

Snaps from Leh on picasa....

Leh 2007 - part II - Of leaking vents and a bored freshie...

Day 2 - 13th July 2007 (Friday the thirteenth)

Nothing much to report about this day... we sat in the train, and sat in the train, and sat in the train - while Googie was in Bangalore, enjoying I guess. Lemme get my hands around his neck...

Paddy had sent an SMS the previous day - "Dude if u r awake at 5 am and ther is range gimme a call". Paddy had to catch the Rajdhani from Mangalore at 6 am, so I assumed that was supposed to be reminder of sorts. Being a man down already, I took this task seriously (like everything else hehe) and set a alarm for 5 am. So, I woke up at 5 am. But, no range! I just prayed that Paddy would be up and at the station... A little later, I did get range and called up Paddy, who confirmed that he was indeed up and about and on the way to the railway station.

At 6.07 am, I sighed a huge sigh of relief when I read another of Paddy status update SMS's - "Gulz the trains the boards! Clap clap! Kini nahi hu main!"

So, the next questionable characters were Kinimaam and V-the-M-the-K, lovingly called - Pyscho or weew-a-a-ake (depending on Ojha's frame of mind)

Rajdhani trains, have a habit of waking up people at 6 am to feed them some butt ugly tea and so, the entire compartment was up and running to the loo. Early early in the morning 60 odd people vying for 4 loos, hehehe..... This was one time, when I wondered how long Kookee would have lasted. Anyways, Paddy's alarm was good enough pressure for me, so I used the fabled Rajdhani loos. Luckily for me there was toilet paper. Yes, toilet paper on an Indian railways train! So, I did not have to worry about the mug not reaching the right place and you know... hehe...

That done, and waiting for breakfast while approaching the Hussian Sagar Lake, I got talking to the other "youngster" in our compartment. Shamboo was traveling to Delhi after attending his counseling at Manipal. Small world.

In the mean while Googie, after some amount of detective work, sent out an SMS - "Clap clap! Clap clap! Ojha's cell got stolen. Contact him through .... or at his home number ....". Things got more interesting huh...

We spent most of the day, boring the daylights out of the freshie from our Alma matter. We were doling out advice by the bucket loads, something I am sure he had enough and more of.
During the afternoon, we noticed a huge Indian Ocean near the toilet. Yes boys, we had named this one the Indian Ocean, days before we encountered them again :D... Apparently the AC of our bogie had developed a leak, and there was nothing the on board maintainence crew could do about it, so much for the Rajdhani tag. The train was so freaking rotten, I have not seen a more dilapidated and F-ed up train than this one.

Anyways after lunch, comprised of rubber rotis and uncooked paneer, we tried visiting la la land. But, our assault on the unsuspecting freshie was relentless... hehe...

Some time around 2.30 pm we received a message from Googie - "Oj's addr - .... Kalkaji he said he'll be coming to pick you yo at the stn". Reassuring. Ojha had left Bangalore in one piece and was in New Delhi, again in one piece... "Phew! The trip is still on", I thought to myself.

By evening, I think even Paddy was bored of the Rajdhani. We got a message from him - "Inside maharashtra, ratnagiri, jai konkan rly ! But rajdhani is sad , tea also we ve to only make !". The never ending train journey was getting on my nerves as was the infinite loop conversations making the rounds in the compartment. Then I guess, the loneliness of the journey got to Paddy. I got a concerned SMS from him - "Sus , oj in dilli or blore ? Did u speak to him ? Is he pickin u guys ?" After answering all his queries, we readied our selves for the gastronomical delight called dinner that is served by the great IRCTC, in Agri Gold sponsored trays on board the Rajdhani express.

Dinner, or whatever it is called, commences when a waiter in red uniform brings you a Styrofoam cup fillied with red liquid - soup. If you notice something spongy floating in the liquid, then you know you do not need to wait for the bread sticks and butter to arrive. After the soup, comes the main course - one sabji, invariably with Panner as an ingredient; one container of dal, which is half cooked; two rubbery roties; some dirty sliced vegetables pass off as salad; and some very very hard rice; and a bowl of very sour curd. All placed on a tray, that won't sit on you lap even if you join you legs at the knees. So, of course, things tend to jump about and fall on the floor, where it dilutes in the vast Indian Ocean... Anways, after a day and a half in this environment, I was an expert at eating, so this dinner was quite uneventful, except that I didn't get my spoons.

The first time I noticed I was without a spoon, I called out to our food guy... "Bhaiya... spoon dena"
"Ji... deta hun", he cried out from the other end of the bogie.
After what seemed like an eternity he returned with a bottle of water, "Saab aapne paani manga tha..."
I corrected him, "Tch tch... spoon boss spoon... chamach, vaise paani bhi de do.. lagega.:
"Acha ji.. abhi le aatha hun..."
Again, he disappeared for another eternity. When he did return, he had a packet of rubbry roties. "Yeh lejiye... do roti", he said thriumpantly.
As much as I hate to dampn peoples spirits, I had to remind my self that I had some rice to eat, so I gently broke the news to the waiter - I had asked for a chamach and not roties. The dejected waiter dejectedly agreed to bring me a spoon.
When I did get the spoon, the guy sheepishly said, "Ji, khatam ho gaye thae. Aap ke liye naya wala laya hun..."
True to his word, it look all new - with sticker and everything. Of course by this time, I was in no mood to eat any rice or curd or dal, but to stick to the code I accepted the spoon and took a courteous dig at the rice plate. The significance of the gesture was not lost on the waiter, who promptly asked, "Saab.... chai paani".
"Nahi nahi... abhi nahi chahiye".
"Nahi saab... khane ka chai paani".
"Han han.... vohi.. nahi chahiye".
"Jo maan mei aaye, de dijye saab", he said. And thats when it sank in my thick skull, the dude wanted tips!
"Kal subhe aa jao...", I said.
"Nahi saab, hum log abhi collect kar lethe hain..."
"Teek hai", I said (grumbling internally, why the F should I tip this lousy waiter...) and gave him 10 rupees.

We did some math, if these fellows made 3 trips in a week, then in a month, they'd make 12 trips a month. If in each trip he colleceted an average of 5 rupees from 60 passengers (in one bogie), then he'd make 3600 rupees per month over and above his salary from the railways...

Shortly later, at 10 pm, we were in Bhopal, and I calld up my parents to let them know that I could have been home, if they hadn't moved... hehe...

I decided to stay up a bit, and charge the cell phone... yes they have an outlet near the sink where only one phone may be charged at a time, that too trickle charged. So charging cell phones was like the Indian govt's 5 year plan... at around two am, I received two messages. The first from Paddy - "Kini vmk boarded"; the second from Kini - "We guys on de train..... sooparaashile"

"Cool... six birdies in the hand one to go", I thought and as curled as much as I could on the middle berth and drifted off to sleep all excited about the adventure we were about to embark upon. Paddy words - "Jai Khardung La!" was echoing in the sleepy brain....

Leh 2007 - part II - Of leaking vents and a bored freshie...

Leh 2007 - Part I - Of missed trains

Day 1 - 12th July 2007

"The big day is here. I am going to go away for three, maybe four weeks!", I thought gleefully, "But first, get all the packing done, buy a camera bag for the handycam, get some money out for the trip, and...."

Anyways, all the small forest fires were put out rather smoothly and my bags were packed - one huge bag to hold the saddle bag, the riding jacket and my clothes and a smaller bag to hold the helmet. I was all set to go.

At around 4 in the afternoon I called up Googie, and reminded him that the train would leave from the Bangalore Main Railway station at 8.20 in the night. He said, "Cool, no problem. That is near Majestic, isn't it?"
"Ooops", I thought and said, "Yeah. yeah. Thats the one."
"But, where do we meet dude?"
"Why don't you come over to my place by around 6 - 6.30, and we can leave for the station by 7.15?"
"Hey, thats a good idea. I'll do that", Googie said.

One in the basket, one more to go. In the mean while, I get a call from Vatsa -
"Namaskara! finished packing?", he asked.
"Yeah dude. All done. Thanks for that Camera Point tip, I got the bag after a little bit of bargaining for 600."
"Cool... that is that original price anyway!"
"So, you done with your packing?", I asked, changing the topic.
"No, not yet, I'll go home and then do it. Are you taking a big bag?"
"Yes, I am taking a big bag."
"Do you have space for a big helmet?"
"Nah dude, no space of another helmet..."
"Hmm ok... so what time is the train?"
"The train leaves at 8.20 pm, but be there at the station by 7.45"
"Ok, which platfrom?"
"The Rajdhani leaves from platform number 8, so you can enter from the old entrance".
"Ok, see you at the station then", and he rang off.

Both birdies in the basket, Papa Bear was a relieved man. Not for long. It was 6 pm and there was no sign of Googie, so I called him up.
"Dude, where are you?"
"Man I am still at home, I still have to clean up."
"What? Clean up? what it iz?"
"You won't understand dude... I really really have to clean up this place before leaving. It won't look good otherwise", he whined. Yeah Googie really really whined.
"Ok, so whats the plan?"
"I'll meet you at the station directly", he said.
"Hmm.. fine... but remember, the train leaves at 8.20 from platfrom number 8, so plan to be at the station by 7.45".
"Ok dude, it is near majestic right?"
"Yes yes... it is the station near majestic", I confirmed.
"Ok dude, I'll see you there."

Papa Bear, feels a little uncomfortable, but dismisses it as mere speculation.
I just left home, and I get a call from Paddax - "Namaskara! Hortra saar?" "Hello, did you leave?"
"Yes boss! just left", I said.
"So, you have taken everything right?", he queried.
"Yes, yes, everything is all packed in the bags!!!"
"Drivers License, Identity card etc....?"
"Yes, yes... everything... I have my company id card... I hope that is ok.."
"No voters ID or something..."
"No yaar... why take all that chuma?"
"RighRight.. So I am leaving for Mangalore now, I have some shopping to do there and then I'll catch the train next morning... "
"Yeggzalento...!!"
"See you in Delhi then... Jai Khardung La!", he said and rang off.

I reached the station as per my plan i.e. by 7.45 and dragged my 25 kg luggage for almost a kilometer on platfrom 8 to find my elusive bogie - AS5. I found an old couple sitting in our compartment. "This is going to be fun", I thought and stuffed my bags under the lower berth. One birdy in the hand, two more to go!

I called up Vathsa - no response. Then I called up Googie - "Dude where are you?" I asked.
"On my way dude, on my way. How much time do you think it will take to get from Lifestyle to the railway station?"
"In this traffic... hmmm around three quarters of a hour... why?"
"I am just outside Lifestyle... I don't think i can make it...."
"Haha... just pray Kookeeee", I chuckled.

Then Vathsa called up, "Hey where are you?"
"I am at the station, where are you?", I asked.
"Almost there man.. sure, we don't have to go to the new entrance right?"
"Yes boss... platform number 8."
"Ok, I'll be there"

By 8.10 Vatsha was at the station, closely follwed by his friends and Rommies, who had come to see him off. Was to make sure that he really really did board the train to New Delhi? hehe... only Vathsa knows :D

There was no sign of Googie still, and we received a message from him, "Dude delay the train somehow... I'm sure I'm not making it. But the trip is definitely on.I'll catch a flight and come".
So we called him up again - "Dude! Where are you?"
"Man I don't think I can make it... We are stuck.. the traffic isn't moving an inch...", he whined. Yes, yes... our Googie actually whined.
"Dude, just try maadi... maybe you'll make it in time..."
"Hey dude... try talking to the TC, he may stop the train..."
"Hehe... magga I'll tell him, he can expect a reward from Googie if he delays the train... hehe", I chuckled.
"Man, pull the chain! Do something dude... ", he said desperately.
"Relax dude, try to make to the station." I tried to smoothen he frayed nerves.
"Ok dude", he sighed and cut the call.

It was 8.12 and there was no hope, so I told Vathsa... "Looks like its going to be just you and me on this train to Delhi".

At exactly 8.20 the train began to roll from the platfrom, and no sign of Googie. Yet. The bogie had just rolled out of sight from the platfrom, when I got an sms from him- "Has it left yet?"

So I called him again - "We just left... where are you?"
"I am just outside the station... did it leave?"
"Ya dude, it just left..."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes... it really really left..."
"Can't you pull the chain?"
"Nah... that I can't do... you are good fella... but I won't go to jail for you...". Poor Googie... I felt for him. But really, when you have friends like me, who needs enemies... :D
"Ok dude... I'll ask the auto walla to go to take me home...... man he is laughing at me dude!!!"
"Sigh... what it is to be done dude... what it is to be done..."
"Can you cancel my tickets with the TC??"
"Yes dude... you don't worry about that... we'll take care of that.. Tension nahi leneka..."

I was pretty peeved, it was for Googie's sake that we had booked train tickets. So that, in case of a cancellation we would get full refund. And now the moron was flying, while I would be cooking in a train... tchk tchk... tchk tchk... and would be like James Bond's drink when I get off at Delhi - shaken, but not stirred. Hehe... Pretty pretty peeved.

Equally strange, was that Ojha was not answering his phone. There were a million questions in our minds - "Did he leave Bangalore?"; "Did he get leave?"; "What about the bikes?"; "What will we do once we reach Nizzamuddin station early on Saturday morning?"

That pretty much sums up the first day of our, as the Ancient Chinese would put it - interesting trip. Full of action, suspense and drama.

Leh 2007 - Part I - Of missed trains

Skull caps / Balaclava

Another on the list of essentials for a biker... again, something I've been trying to lay my hands on from a very long time, but was too lazy to go search :)

The Skull cap, is something that you wear over your head, before putting on a helmet. Think of a monkey cap.... right... the exact same thing, but in cotton. Balaclava is the term....

The plus points of this underestimated fella are

1. It absorbs all the perspiration, keeping the helmet a little cleaner
2. The back of the neck, which is exposed in most helmets gets covered, so no more nasty sun burns there ;)
3. If you are riding in the cold, it keeps the face a little bit warm

As usual, they are available in a few shops on Lalbagh Rd. Click here to see the location on google maps.

Skull caps / Balaclava