A round trip through Shravanabelagola and Ranganthittu

It was a long due ride with Sheetal had to plan out something somewhere. Worked out the logistics with Akhil and then planned a ride to ranganthittu which was later changed to shravana belagola. We wanted to hit the road early in the morning on Saturday everything was fixed me and Sheetal on one bike and Akhil would be riding with Suman as pillion.

I had a brainwave early in the morning when I woke up to do ranganthittu from shravana belagola wanted to find out the route and ended up getting late to start and dint find out the route too. Well finally started from home at about 5 30 to pick Sheetal from deve gowda petrol bunk then left to meet Akhil at vijaynagar and left from there at about 6. The route decided was
Bangalore --> Magadi --> Kunigal --> Shravana belagola

Road from Bangalore to Magadi was a little crowded with early morning traffic but then we just tackled it well and managed to get out of Magadi in a piece then was the scenic roads from Magadi to Kunigal the whole route was like a maze with unexpected tricky twists and turns. Reached Kunigal for some amazing thatte idli’s and vada’s hit the road again shravana belagola was 70 kms from Kunigal and we were real early so we stopped at the coffee day on way for some refreshments.

Got back on the road and managed to reach shravana belagola in about half an hour at 12. Parked our bikes and started climbing the huge hill reached the top clicked some pics of the huge daunting statue and started the descent downwards had some decent Jain lunch and hit the road by 1.

Since we were early Sheetal wanted to do ranganthittu too so did everyone so we decided to take the route through Mysore which was 80kms from shravana belagola. So now the route back to Bangalore was
Shravana belagola --> ranganthittu --> Shrirangapatna --> Maddur --> Bidadi --> Bangalore

The roads from shravana belagola to ranganthittu are the best country roads I have done this far. It was awesome with all the greenery and windings. Some amazing stretch of country roads and to top it the weather was simply brilliant. Touched 130 kmph speed on one stretch here. Reached ranganthittu and clicked some pictures of Crocs and hit the road at 5 30 and started getting dark.

Stopped on the way at Mc Donald’s for some burger and some rest, driving back in the dark with people driving with high beams on the opposite side was hell and it was really difficult to keep up a good speed. Managed to reach Bangalore by about 9 30 in the night.

All in all a great ride and some good time on the road… :)

Blues

After a tiring day I come back home do my homework then I wait for the most exciting part of the day my dad takes me on his lambretta to MG road, me standing in the front of the scooter I can smell the freshness in the air and it’s such a relieving experience. This can be exciting for any young boy going out with your dad especially when the weather is so pleasant. We reach MG road and there are hardly people on the road we reach zero traffic Ulsoor to MG road in 5 mins. I get my favorite cone ice cream and we take a walk on brigade road and MG road my dad showing me around all the shops. We were connecting like adults he was not holding my hand the reason I couldn’t get lost in the crowd because there wasn’t one.

This was the same thing we used to do every day throughout my childhood days. People who are reading this must be wondering what I am writing about right now is it my DAD. Well I wanted to write about someone that my dad introduced me to when I was born BANGALORE.

Bangalore the place where I was born so were my dad and mom. Garden city that’s what Bangalore was called like everyone says “nothing like the good old days” those were the days when MG road was covered with trees right from Ulsoor and a trek for a small kid can be walk from Ulsoor to MG road without any assistance. Those were the days when the minimum amount for an auto was 4 rupees and the auto drivers were actually friendly. People were friendly you could speak to anyone and there was no discrimination everyone was a good guy.

I still remember the day my brother was born. Walking was a favorite pastime for me with my dad and we thought lets walk from Ulsoor to CMH road where the hospital was and I was really excited to see my little brother and my mom. It was October and the rains had just finished their magic and the whole city looked like it had just gone for a laundry. Well the sewerage system of Bangalore was actually fine those days the municipality was called Bangalore city corporation (BCC). So we are taking this walk and my dad stops to take a smoke and he lets my hand go and I see this big puddle of water and I go straight for it and jump into it the joy it gave was just unimaginable.

The scene today when I go to MG road or brigade road there are peddlers on the road there is no parking place the road is clogged with traffic people are shouting at each other it gives you such a dreaded feeling about the place. You take a walk on CMH road its blazing hot and dust all over the metro construction going on has done more damage than help to US. All my favorite friends whom I used to meet on the way from school all those beautiful tree are now down and dead and new shops have come up brands are ruling the city now.

Back then people were respected for what they are now people are respected if he is wearing Adidas or Nike. City is run by retail stores and super markets. Not that I am too old but the youth nowadays are out of the charts where has that innocence gone that we had when we grew up which has totally gone away. The education system has changed upside down all the public schools have now become international schools. All the fun the kids now have is on computer games rather than scraping your knees on the ground when you have a fall while playing some arbitrary game. Globalization has some serious side effects it has changed our lives upside down.

Once Bangalore was a pensioner’s paradise now a pensioner can’t even dream of settling down in Bangalore the cost of living has gone above the budget they had for retirement. There is no mutual respect when you walk on the road if someone bumps into you by mistake it could actually end up in a fist fight which could be ended in a simple sorry. I hope the times are changing for the greater good for Bangalore.

Wish I had a rewind button like those old VCR’s I would want to go back to those good old days of Bangalore. The fresh breeze on my face, the dust free air, friendly people, tall trees and pleasant weather all that Bangalore was known for. :-)

Rapping at The Rappa

With hang over of Cloud valley still lingering in the head there was another ride planned to The Rappa. The most relieving thing about the ride was it was away from the dreaded Mysore road which we take on almost all rides and riding back on a Sunday on Mysore road is the nightmare of any rider with maniacs driving like they do in the city.

Rappa is close to Hassan about 230 kms from Bangalore. This time around there was a big bunch that had signed in for the ride about 40 of us were all set to hit the road. The route that was planned is
Bangalore-->Magadi-->Kunigal-->Channarayapatna-->Hassan-->Rappa

I was getting used to all this riding every weekend(almost every weekend) so the anxiety had died down a little so could get some good sleep on Friday night. Meeting point was Mekhri Circle at 6 30. Praisy would join me on 100ft road and we would ride from there to Mekhri Circle together. I was just leaving from my house a gentle drizzle started which turned out to become a pretty heavy rain. Met Praisy at 12th main indiranagar and we left to Mekhri circle in the rain. We were kinda late so couldn’t catch up with people who were already there, we left as soon as we reached Mekhri circle.

First stop was at Kunigal for breakfast the whole route through Magadi was a blessing away from nellamangala traffic. The road was full of twists and turns and a biker’s paradise provided we are in control of the bike. Reached Kunigal by8 and had some brilliant thatte idli’s and some amazing vada’s. Hit the road after some coffee from here it full on patrang wonlee. Everyone was in a mood of clipping through the roads. The roads were pretty decent too. Next regroup point was outside Channarayapatna for some tender coconuts and then from there the next stop was just outside Hassan where Biju was waiting for us to lead us to The Rappa.

We were welcomed by 3 amazing dogs Brownie (Irish setter), Shadow (Bassett Hound) and Shunti (American Spitz). And one haunting long Rock Python. They were our official guide around The Rappa. After a much awaited lunch we headed to the water for kayaking. It was an awesome experience me and Ratish went kayaking about 8 kms almost till the dam. It was a tiring and muscle building experience. After all the fun we realized that our Aritra (Little Johnny) was missing. He had shot away swimming alone without any life jackets and went missing. It was a horrifying experience for everyone. We had search parties sent to find him but no sign of him everyone was pessimistic about what happened to this fellow.

Later Vijay gets a call from little Johnny saying the currents took him away towards the dam and I kind soul picked him up and dropped in some village. The villagers must have thought this guy must have been some extinct bear of some kind coming out of the water. ;) Somehow prashi went and picked up and came back to the base camp. It was relieving to know that nothing serious had happened.

Then was the party in the evening it was superb to say the least we had a camp fire for the cold and people were enjoying their drinks I was having a gala time talking to guys and with the music and my usual drink Pepsi neat. The icing on the cake was the local folk music that they had arranged. It was simply awesome and I just let go and danced like a maniac. Then we had dinner and started talking all kinds of random stuff about ride experiences and stuff like that. Then we decided to retire for the night and hit the bed.

The mornings when we leave are the most difficult part of any ride when we have to head back. We decided to leave late take some pictures on the way at the ruins of the church and then head back to Bangalore. The ruins were simple great we got some real cool pics here. Had lunch on the way at kamat and again the full patrang wonlee. Praisy had a minor break down on the way but got it fixed also Ratish had a minor fall thanks to the riding gear it was nothing serious.

Reached Bangalore at about 6 and was home by about 6 30. Awesome ride and an amazingly planned trip to the Rappa.

Cloud Valley Ride to Coorg with RTMC

As I was just thinking about where to do the next ride there came a post from prashi on yahoo groups about the cloud valley ride to coorg. Always wanted to ride to coorg and there was my opportunity to one of the most beautiful places in Karnataka and the place where Cauvery originates from.

The ride was planned to be on May 31st and we were to take the normal route to coorg
Bangalore -->Maddur-->Shrirangapatna --> Hunsur -->Periyapatna -->Kushalnagar -->Madikeri -->Cloud valley.

Well the day arrived and I had to get my gear patched up after the fall I had while coming back from Kodai. Gave the Jacket to my mom and she freaked out and almost dint let me go. But somehow got her convinced and was ready for the ride by Friday evening.

Meeting point was Bangalore university at 5 45 in the morning. Woke up early and managed to reach there in time. Already quite a few people were there Mr. Ratish (lamp) just came after I reached . After that arrived Praisy. People from Madras Bulls had come to see us off. Who were supposed to ride with us but stayed in Bangalore. :)

We were all set to go, the first regroup point was Indhradhanush where the breakfast was scheduled. There was a light fog cover reducing the visibility but riding was pretty easy. We were doing good speeds and reached the place. Had a good breakfast topped with coffee to clear the morning daze. Finished breakfast fast and hit the road. Next stop was Shrirangapatna at the Hunsur turn. We were doing pretty good speeds and managed to reach the point pretty fast.

Spent sometime here for sutta break left after everyone regrouped. Next the stop was supposed to be just outside Periyapatna where we refilled with some snacks and got some water. We were doing good speeds reached this place by 10 in the morning. Covered around 150 kms in 3 hrs of riding. Next stop was Madikeri town, I was excited about the next stretch as it was Ghats. I was pretty confident of the ghat riding after Kodai so wanted to have a rip at it.

But then Praisy who got her Bullet recently was going a little slow so thought will ride with her and was tailing her through the Ghats. We were doing decent speeds of about 50 kmph. We were just outside when Madikeri when Praisy had a fall. There were 2 buses one was going at 20 kmph and the other was trying to overtake this one at 25 kmph. The whole road was covered and Praisy tried to squeeze in from the left but then there wasn’t any road there she did a somersault and jumped over the bike into the small pit full of thorns. Luckily I was right behind her and helped her out. But I would not have been able to lift the bike by myself. Waited for sometime Sushil arrived and then kishore came.

Managed to pull the bike out after we had a nice laugh and clicked a couple of pics and left to Madikeri. Had a little break there and started to cloud valley which was about 20 kms from Madikeri. Again I started tailing Praisy but after a couple of kms I just couldn’t control myself and let go. Started ripping in the Ghats foot pedal scraping all over the road. Overtook balaji on the way with his wife who was lost and dint know where to go. :)

Stopped on the way and got some real good pics of Praisy riding. Finally reached the destination after abhi led us into the wrong road but managed to reach there by 1 30 to have a super coorgi meal with pork and chicken. Hogged royally till I could eat no more, Learnt that a few guys had problem with their bikes one flat tire and some other minor problems.

After that we were just lazing around when the biggest laughter riot happened. Mr. Krishna (Kinky Kong) arrived on his thunder bird everyone thought it was the great Anshuman Biswal and deepshit was all red to beat him up. But then we realized it was not actually Anshuman. It was some laugh we had.

After that came the fun part when we headed to the stream where everyone went into totally berserk in the water, we played along like kids we were all ten yrs younger. J
Then headed back to the home stay pulling each others legs on the way deepshit teasing Mr. Lamp and vice versa.

Evening was total full on fun we had one memorable introduction session with lamp and guy from Mysore bulls Pratap totally stealing the show with their foot in the mouth comments and questions. It was full on entertainment the best intro session I have ever witnessed.

Then came dinner some awesome pork and chicken again. Just when I thought the night was over after the sumptuous meal the fun started again. At 1 in the night me, poo Praisy and deepshit were laughing our guts out with various stuff. Till 4 in the night the 4 of us were just laughing it out. Then we decided to crash and somehow managed to find place to sleep.

Woke up at 7 on Sunday and drank some coffee while some people left early and decided to go to the Tibetan monastery on the way I got a small nap again. Woke up again at 9 and got ready to leave. Again had some real good coorgi special breakfast. Some kind of puttu with egg curry some tasty stuff. Then we decided to leave at 10 30 headed back with Praisy. Again I had a good ghat ride and we reached Madikeri where we fuelled up for the ride and hit the road again. We had decided to go have momo’s in the Tibetan camp in the way at bylkuppe.

Managed to reach here by 1 me Ratish and Praisy had a good meal here again. Met Manas and Arpita who left in the morning in the monastery. Again hit the road and managed to do good speeds and reached Shrirangapatna with just one stop in the middle. Clicked a few pics here and hit the road to get into Mysore road. With all the weekend getaway people driving back to Bangalore the whole road was busy with traffic and people driving like maniacs. People were driving like how they drive around in cities total irresponsible driving. With all the traffic reached the NICE road intersection at 6 with a stop at the Maddur coffee day.

Just then it struck me that the weekend is over. L Me and Praisy were heading back through the NICE road and just touched bannerghatta road when it started raining. This was a wonderful welcome back home. Reached home fully drenched in the hard rain and had a much needed dinner and crashed.

Was one hell of a ride coupled with full entertainment and fun…

Weekends are so SHORT....

Well it was Saturday after a somewhat free week... Had taken an off on Monday after the ride to Kodai so the week went quite fast... Put up a dinner meeting with college mates.. Talked to Kantu, Sid and lohith (gujju) and they were all ready to have dinner on sat...

had gone out with Sunil and BK in the morning to get DRDO forms came back home and filled them up got to get them posted by Monday... then was waiting to meet my classmates after a real long time... and it started to rain but dint rain for a very long time as soon as it stopped raining Kantu and Gopala a new addition to the group who had come down from NID Ahmedabad left from koramangala and i left home..

The venue was the new UB city on vittal mallya road... this was the first time i was going there so was kinda excited... Reached the place in 15 mins and checked if someone had reached earlier... Gujju was there waiting and Kantu and Gopala were yet to come... waited for them to come back and I and gujju were catching up on some old stuff... Sid had given hath and was not coming to the dinner...

Well we had no choice but to carry on... went inside UB city and it was a phenomenal piece of architecture.. MR Mallya sure knows how to spend money in style... well then me Kantu and the Gujju had disagreements of where to have dinner in the food court or some place else... I and Kantu dint feel like eating in the food court so brainwashed gujju and took him to Desmonds on lavelle road... ;)

Love the food here in Desmonds little on the expensive side like 1000 Rs for 2 people but the food served is really awesome... they have some real good steaks, continental food and not to forget the pastries...

This is the 5th time i was going to this place cannot get bored with this place... Kantu and Gopala had a couple of beers and i started ordering for the starters ordered chicken sheek kababs for the non veggies and panneer tikka for the veggies... main course time and i was starving i ordered a minced chicken sizzler for myself and Kantu and gujju ordered some roti and curry....

I just loved my sizzler... gobbled it up fast... had a good meal and had a good chat with all of them after a real long time... then it was time to leave.. Dropped Kantu who wanted to ride my bike to koramangala signal and went home... A nice evening spent with my class mates after a long time... :)

Chasing Mad Bulls to Kodai

My first ride… The ride to salvation, my baptism as a rider... Thanks to "precious, my precious new thunder bird"

The ride was for the Madras bulls 7th anniversary in Kodai. Registered with RTMC for the ride and the D day was here before i could realize. Did my packing the previous night and got my bike checked from the service station. all seemed to be fine and the only thing i had to do was get some good sleep so that i can wake up early but in spite of hitting the bed at 9 30 i couldn’t sleep very well because of the anxiety and anticipation of the ride. Well i decided i couldn’t sleep anymore and got up at 3 and got ready.

The decided time to leave was at 4 shell petrol bunk from hosur road i reached shell bunk and 3 45 and no one was to be seen. After about ten mins the cavalry started to arrive first to come were Trishul and Ratish... then one after the other people started coming in one by one... And we were ready to leave at 4 30...The feeling of doing 500kms in a day on your first ride felt a daunting task but with my precious i thought 500kms that would be easy... ;) The route decided was hosur-Krishanagiri-Salem-Dindigul-vathlagundu-Kodaikanal.

Well that felt easy till the sun came out... managed to cover about half the way till it got real hot... Reached Salem at about 8 and had breakfast there and hit the road again… By this time the sun was high and it was getting real hot… After it got sunny nothing was happening around you everything was stand still, I was doing good speeds of about 80 to 100 and hitting 110 at a few stretches... Was feeling a little tired and almost dozed off a couple of times because of the heat took a couple of breaks result of which i got separated from the group also bike needed a fuel so got it tanked up and reached dindugal... was asking the way to vathlagundu from dindugal when abhi found me... then found out
Where the group was and joined them… Then half of them went to have lunch at veni biriyani and the other half left towards Kodai i went with the 2nd half thinking they were going to have biriyani missed the biriyani.. :(

Anyways we hit the road and reached vathlagundu in half an hour and had a light lunch there before hitting the Ghats... the Ghats were a real thrill ride... the twists and turns and a few hair pin bends the reducing temperature were such a blessing after the long hard ride in the sun... was maintaining speeds of around 60 and 70 in the Ghats i thought i was doing well when suddenly 2 bikes just buzzed past me like a bazooka it was prashy on his bullet and anand on his bmw never seen anyone do the stuff they were doing with their bike incredible riding guys... would love to learn a trick or two from you guys…

Reached the venue (Cliff Top hotel) in Kodai at about 3 30 had a bath and came down to the city with Ashish only to find out that it was a bad idea.. The city was packed with people as it was a long weekend and we got stuck in traffic... somehow managed to get back with some bhel puri for the drinkers and that’s how i got my nick name BHEL PURI now that’s an interesting way to get a name.. ;)

Everyone was chilling around drinking and i was having my drink too coke on the rocks... ;) Then hit the bed after a tiring long day...

Woke up in the morning and got ready and wanted to go do some shopping only to find out that one of the clamps on my silencer was broken… :( now had to get it fixed got it welded from a guy nearby and then did some shopping... Rest of the day was just chatting away and listening to people experiences was a first timer i was getting so much of gyan from the riding gods... :)

That night was party again had some good food and danced after a long time felt real good... :) Had to leave early the next day there were 2 batches one of them had decided to leave at 2 30 and the other at 4 30.. My roomies Ashish and little john wanted to leave at 2 30 and my sleep got disturbed and when i hit the bed again to wake up only at 5... :( missed the 2nd batch of guys…

So I and the other roomy Mr. Anbumani decided we will take the route we came by and catch up with the bunch in krishnagiri… Managed to leave Kodai by 6 and were doing great speeds... decided not to have breakfast just had some water with electral powder and it kept us going till we were about 40 kms from Salem when disaster struck...

My silencer clamp broke again... :( Then our momentum dropped and our speeds dropped… Somehow managed to tie up my silencer and ride again was just managing to do speeds of 90 because of the leakage in silencer… Then another disaster struck the heat was getting to me and i lost concentration over a curve i turned late and thanks to the gravel on the road i skid and went off the road… The crash guard saved my bike and the riding jacket and gloves saved me managed to get away without a scrape...
Managed to ride with the broken crash guard and reached adyar anandh bhavan just outside krishnagiri and had lunch there… Then bumboo and party showed up at the same place for lunch we said our good bye after the lunch and hit the road… After that it was just hard core riding with just a couple of breaks and before we knew we reached hosur at about 3… Another chai break there and I and Mr. Anbumani said our good byes...

Reached home by about 4 with a sore and numb body... All in all a great experience for a first timer... But something was telling me this is just the start there is still lots of kms left on the bike and in me of course...