Riding Solo……….

It was June 1^st week and there were no signs of the arrival of the monsoon, the scorching heat, dry air and add to that I had nothing much to do but to wait for the college to begin. Just then I saw an article in Hindu about a hiking trip to Har-Ki-Dun in Uttaranchal and also noticed that much of the south India i.e. southern Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu had become cooler and also were experiencing some showers. So now I was really tempted to go for either of this one (Actually both would be great but parents would kill me and it would have been an economic disaster). Had to choose between the two, enquired if anyone would accompany, but then everyone was quite busy with their new assignments, so it was now evident that this would be a Solo trip. Then it just stuck me that we did not reach the tip of India i.e. Kanyakumari last time around, so I thought this was the time to accomplish that and what better than on Thunderbird. So kept aside the Hiking stuff for some other time and started preparing for the ride. Just checked the maps, made sure I did not repeat the same routes or at least try keeping it to the minimum. Did not have any specific destinations or checkpoints planned, just wanted to ride till I enjoyed it and then call it a day, time was hardly a constraint. Checked the bike myself, bought some necessary stuff, packed things and just waited for the June 5^th Friday morning.

     The route (www.bing.com)

Day - 1 (June 5^th)

Was very eager, so had a very little sleep in the night, got up, packed the stuff on the back seat, tied them up and the “Solo Ride to KanyaKumari” had begun. There was an eerie feeling at first, my mind was just floating everywhere and I was thinking if I something happened to bike or me in way, I would have to face it all alone and stuff like that. But as I crossed the Hyderabad airport and joined the NH-7, almost forgot everything and was enjoying the ride. A nice cool morning and a brand new four lane highway were kind of giving a grand welcome and I was enjoying every bit of it. Hardly took any breaks for the next 200Km except for a snap here and there. Had breakfast at some place after Kurnool and continued towards Bangalore, It would have been an uneventful journey but my curiosity to know the mileage, almost promised real event. To know the mileage I just waited and waited until the bike was in reserve (reserve capacity of Thunderbird is 1.2L) and then did not find a petrol bunk for nearly 42Km. I was real lucky, a couple of kilometers here and there I would have been stranded on the highway on the first day. 

     ISKON Temple near Ananthpur

Was maintaining a good pace and reached Bangalore at 1600 hrs, so just wanted to continue till Mysore or till it became dark. Enquired about the Mysore highway and was again lucky that did not have to cross the entire city. In less than an hour was again on the highway with a light drizzle. But this time was not so lucky and the drizzle turned in to heavy downpour and with no protection for the luggage, it was totally wet. 

     Alongside the Bangalore-Mysore Highway

It stopped soon enough and now the climate was even cooler, the road was a wonderful one with lots greenery on either side, stopped a couple times for small breaks and reached Mysore at 1900 hrs and called the day off. After the longest ever single day drive, I was hardly tired, was still feeling fresh and went on to local sightseeing after the dinner in rain.

Today’s Trip Meter – 750 Km (Hyderabad-Bangalore-Mysore)

Day – 2 (June 6^th)

Got up early in the morning and headed towards Bandipur Wildlife Sanctuary on the Karnataka-Tamilnadu border. Reached there at 0800hrs and enquired about the Safari ride, and came to know that there would be Jeep safari for an hour, there would be 3 such sessions in the morning and 2 in the evening and the accommodation was full, so waited for half an hour for my safari to begin. 

     Fellow Bikers From Bangalore

It’s a wonderful sanctuary with lots of wildlife, one can spot herds of deer right besides the roads, some of them have large and beautiful horns, and there are wild buffaloes, many kinds of birds and of course Tigers. But spotting them in an hour would mean that one had to be really lucky, but I was not, did not spot any big cats. After the safari I was tempted to go in to forest as there was hardly any guards present at the entry points but I was scared and also that there were many tracks, so one can easily get lost. 

     Beaufitul horned Chital......

     Road in the Bandipur Sanctuary

So I just went forward and entered the Tamilnadu part of the sanctuary which is known as Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary. As I covered a couple of kilometers, I suddenly saw a huge Elephant beside the road, plucking the tall grass and dumping on its back. I hesitated to turn off the bike and take a few snaps as I was all alone and no one was visible. Waited a few min and then some vehicles came by and stopped too, then took the snaps. It slowly crossed the road and went on its way and I on mine. 

     Know Zebra crossing....this is Elephant crossing.....

Also came across well built wild buffalo after this. Sadly the forest came to an end and the hilly regions started. Entered Kerala soon enough and then got lost in the mist. Almost traveled 25km when I realized that I missed a left turn, there was no alternate route so had to retrace the same one. Reached Thirsur by 1600hrs so again continued till a place called Muvattupuzua, It had rain like hell and everything I carried had been wet, so was the cell phone, when I checked, it was not working. 

     Mystic Kerala

    Don't know what birds were these.....

Now no one could even reach me and now I was really on my own, I had to make calls from phone booth and finding them is real painful job. Had a couple drinks today as I was wet for almost 10 hrs and went to sleep.

Today’s Trip Meter – 450 Km (Mysore-Bandipur-Thirsur-Muvattupuzua)

Day – 3 (June 7^th)

By the time I got up, some of the stuff was dry but most of the things were still wet, so had get like that but by now I had some wheat flour bag which I kept on top of the bag and tied to get some sought of protection from rain. Tried real hard to get a huge polythene cover but was not able to, so this was some kind of alternative. Got up fairly early without the alarm, remember my cell was out of order, packed up things and started, still don’t understand what is it about the early morning drives, they give such pleasure. 

     Myself..........

     Some where in Gods own country........

Today’s first destination was Periyar Sanctuary via Idukki, it’s a superb drive through the hills and now that the rain had stopped was an added bonus. Was going slowly and took ample breaks for snaps. Today I was again back in the heart of Kerala and its such a wonderful place, the backwaters, the narrow bridges, the hills surrounding them, the clouds in between them and some waterfalls, I mean what more can anyone ask for, its was just a picture perfect. Then the climb for Idukki started and the panorama changed, and believe me no picture can justify the reality. Though I tried my best with what ever small equipment and little knowledge I had. Meanwhile after gaining fair amount of altitude the rain started again, this time it was heavy and it remained like that through out the day. 

     Periyar Lake....

Reached Periyar and went inside to check out the boat safari but was surprised to witness a huge crowd, the it stuck me that it was Sunday, so skipped it as it was heavily raining. Now my destination was to reach the tip i.e. Kanyakumari before it got dark. Had some tea and bun as lunch some where in between and continued till Punalaur some 90Km from Trivandrum where I put some extra engine oil in the bike which I thought would further smooth the engine, but it would have its own consequence later. The ride till Trivandrum was fast and had no problems in crossing the city; it was quite simple and then by 1900hrs reached the Southern Most Point of Indian Peninsula where all the three seas meet…..Kanyakumari. 

     Wonderful ride through the Hills.........

It was a wonderful feeling that after 1700km of driving from the plains to ghats, in the sun and in rain I was here and half the trip was done.

Today’s Trip Meter – 450 Km (Muvattupuzua-Periyar-Trivandrum-Kanyakumari)

Day – 4 (June 8^th)

Got up early to witness the sunrise but the sky was cloudy, so could not see the perfect one, its difficult in this season. There was huge crowd there and when they had the first glimpse, it erupted with many a chanting like “Surya Narayan Ki Jai Ho”...Etc. 

     Sunrise at Kanyakumari........

I was again back at 0800 hrs for a visit to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, one needs to take a ferry to reach there, its actually very small ride, there are three mandapams on the rock, one is for the foot of goddess Parvati and one had big statue of Swami Vivekananda and other is for meditation where a slow continuous sound of “OM” goes on. 

     Triveni Sangam in the background......

     The Rock Memorial and Thiruvallur Statue...

     The Vivekananda Rock Memorial....

It was noon by the time I reached back and then continued to Rameshwaram. I had to reach there via Tuticorin from where almost for 50-60km there were almost no roads, it was real back breaking journey and now I was feeling tired. By 1600hrs I reached Ramnad a place 55km from Rameshwaram, took a break and moved on, suddenly noticed that there was sea just beside the road, so got the road and took the bike in the beach, clicked some snaps and move on, and then there was sea on the other side as well, that was a real surprise, actually Rameshwaram itself is an island and a bridge known as Pamban bridge connects it to the mainland. 

     Windmills along the NH-7 near Kanyakumari...

It consists of both the Railway which was constructed by the British in 1914 and the Road bridge, had become quite a tourist place. There always a lot of breeze here and even the birds here hardly put an effort to fly they just glide with their wings wide open, stood here for almost an hour enjoying the view and reached Rameshwaram by 1900hrs. 

Man and Machine.........

     Train on the Pamban Bridge......

Visited the temple at night, It’s a huge temple with long corridors and one needs to walk a fair amount of distance to reach the main shrine where the jyotirling resides. So many people from different parts of the country, some even were physically challenged but still walked the whole distance, its amazing to see what belief can do to man. 

       Long corrodors of the Rameshwaram Temple....

Had my dinner by 2100hrs and went to sleep early as I wanted to go to Dhanushkodi early in the morning, the place from where according to Hindu mythology the RamaSethu begins.

Today’s Trip Meter – 350 Km (Kanyakumari-Tuticorin-Ramnad-Rameshwaram)

Day – 5 (June 9^th)

Started early with the entire luggage tied up to the bike so that I could continue after the visit to Dhanushkodi, did not again wanted come back to Hotel. Dhanushkodi is around 20km from centre of Rameshwaram and the demographics completely change as one goes on. I rode around 15Km and then there was no road at all, one had to travel through the beach sand which was not as hard as I would have liked to be. Though gave a try and after a kilometer the inevitable happened the bike got stuck, it just was not moving, called some local boys from the near by huts and asked them to push, which they did happily and some how got out of it. Now I really hesitated to move forward as I could not sight any more settlements on the way, so I case the bike got stuck again, it would be a disaster, so with a real heavy heart turned back and continued the journey. 

    Its definetly Royale

Today did not have any particular destination in mind though thought of staying in Pondy. I had planned a different route till there but some local guys told me that the east coast highway had just been recently built and is best way to reach Pondy. From here the temperature again started to rise and by the time I reached Pondy it was damn hot and add to that was not able to locate any decent accommodation, so dropped the idea of staying here and thought of spending a night in Chennai. 

     At Sunset on the way to Chennai........

     Tried some photography.....

Reached Chennai outskirts by 1900hrs but now I had to cross the entire Chennai from south to north. It was a difficult one especially after covering 700km in the day and people telling some real contradictory routes, at last Eicher Road Atlas came in handy and was able to join the NH-5 by 2200hrs. Found some hotel on the highway and just called the off day.

Today’s Trip Meter – 700 Km (Rameshwaram-Pondy-Chennai)

Day – 6 (June 10^th)

Today I was to reach Gudivada where my friend Sashi and works as professor in an Engineering college, and it promised to be an easy ride as all along it was to be NH-5. So nicely cruised along till Nellore where I had breakfast, If yesterday was hot then today it was burning, by the time I reached Ongole it was hot as hell and I was completely dehydrated, drank 5 glasses of sugarcane juice, borrowed some extra ice, put it in the kerchief and tied around the neck to keep myself cool but it evaporated way too quickly. 

     Nh-5 to Vijaywada.......

When I reached Gudivada at 1430 hrs I had already gulped 10 sugarcane juices and 10 lemon sodas. Took an a/c with insistence of Sashi, it really came in handy. Then went to his uncle’s house and had dinner there and then talked through the night and slept some where after midnight.

Today’s Trip Meter – 500 Km (Chennai-Vijaywada-Gudivada)

Day – 7 (June 11^th)

Today we were to visit his college, so got ready by 0830hrs and reached there by 0900hrs, they had some kind of inspection today but they did not turn up yet so we thought of having breakfast, took the bike and started to the near by village, the roads were narrow and due to overnight rain the sides were full with slush, an ambassador came in the opposite direction and I had to get down the road, tires were full of slush and then crash……. The bike slipped we cane down, though were hardly at 10Kmph but when I picked up the bike and tried to start it, it simply refused. Had to call Sashi’s cousin and his friend, we towed the bike for some 13km and then found some mechanic. After an hour of inspection found out that the extra engine oil which I had poured had leaked in to the air filter. Now removed the damaged air filter, went to Vijaywada without it and bought new one and came back to college to pick up Sashi. It was already 1800hrs so went back to the hotel and both of us had couple of drinks and then packed all the stuff as I would be heading home tomorrow.

Today’s Trip Meter – 130 Km (Gudivada-Vijaywada-Gudivada)

Day – 8 (June 12^th)

Started by 0830hrs in a light drizzle which lasted till some 60km, from where it was a race to Hyderabad. Hardly took any breaks and reached Hyderabad in flat 5 hours.

Today’s Trip Meter – 320 Km (Gudivada-Vijaywada-Hyderabad)

It was an awesome ride from the Deccan plains to the Western ghats to the Tip of Indian Peninsula and from through the East coast to back home. This was the first ever Solo drive and it was a different experience altogether and a pleasant one, though would have loved to have spotted some more wildlife, at least one big cat would have been, in any case after 3700km my thirst for riding was quenched and as always the Journey is what matters and not just Destination………