The nomadic heart always wants to see itself cuddled in the arms of Mother Nature... getting one in her embrace and have worry for no one else. It always longs for the day when it can get to live the ‘moments’ in which one gets to live their entire life.
The nomadic heart also knows that these ‘moments’ are few and difficult to find, but it never gives up on the idea nor the hope. It patiently waits listening to the claps of one hand for it believes that “Life attracts Life”.
The rains bring with them a promise to fulfil the hopes of millions.. it brings hope to the rocky mountains that the life will sprout in them, it brings hope to creatures that they will have enough to see another day, it brings hope to thirsty land that it will be fresh and fine... but to a wandering soul the rain brings the hope that its time for “Festival of Life” !!
The urge of the heart to live the ‘moment’ is so hard, that the reason, no matter what, finds its way to help the heart to be where it wants to be and do what it wants to do...
So there came the reason and off I went in discovery of the ‘moments’. This blog is about the journey that was done exploring the grandeur of the Mother and meeting some of her wonderful kids on way from Chennai to Goa.
PreRide Day:
In more than two weeks, this day happened to be quite a busy one; not that it was too much of work at office but i wasn’t just used to it recently. Till this day there were no any plans on the route for the ride, what places to visit, where to stay, absolutely nothing was planned except for the destination (which never is coordinates on maps but the journey itself). I had thought to plan something on this day, but that didn’t happen. So, I decided to leave it all to what i feel at that moment. Being a solo ride i had the privilege of being on my own and boy i did exactly that!!
Later coming back from office, under the curious and ‘how-does-he-do-it’ looks of my roommate packed everything that was needed and had to leave many things that i wanted. All the tools, clothes, camera, Laptop and my three always helpful friends ( Highway on my plate, motoring Atlas and Lonely planet) had to wrapped around in more than 20 polyethene carry bags to save them from the rains which were just a few corners away. With everything packed in saddle bag and tank bag (which i dont carry on tank but as pillion, to avoid scratch on tank) it was finally time to grab some sleep.
One thing that doesn’t come to riders easily is the sleep on the night before ride. So there i was a little tired and sleep deprived, thinking the days to come and fun to have.
Day 1:
The night passed on without giving the body and the mind, the much needed rest, but that didn’t bother me much, as it was not the first time i had went through this sweet pain. Also getting up and ready to go before the wake up alarm goes off was also not the first time to happen.
The five o’clock crack of dawn (along with the usual curious bystanders) saw me and Jenny at the Sriperembadur chai shop... the ride had just begun !!
Wonderful climate and no traffic helped to make a quick journey till Hosur where i happened to catch site of beautiful red Hyosung GT; the rider seemed to be a seasoned guy who understood that Hosur-Bangalore stretch is not exactly where his 0 to 100 kmph in 10 seconds is going to win over Jenny’s graceful pace. He followed Jenny till we made it to an open stretch, then gave a friendly glance and disappeared into horizon. No hard feelings No bad blood. Only Respect.
Took the Nice Road (that’s not in ornamental sense.. there is really a road called Nice road that is a sort of ring road) in an equally Nice weather (now it’s ornamental !! writing can be so complicated sometimes). This road took me to another stretch that took me directly out of the Bangalore traffic; the pleasure had a touch of pain because these two roads are the only one’s on which they collect toll from two wheelers (50 INR). I hope this toll disease is not an epidemic and stays within Bangalore limits... cannot help but quote the HOP curse “May the wrath of thousand locusts infest the underwear of the person” who made the decision to make the poor bikers poorer to fill in their pockets.
Now came the time when i had to make the decision to chose my way ahead, one road was longer and bad, the other one was well heard off and a national highway.. no prize to guess which one I took. The heavy traffic soon was left behind and the green pastures were all around ... don’t be surprised, the pastures are always greener on rider’s side!! Clicked a few snaps of the paddy fields and made a pit stop as the call of hungry stomach could no longer be suppressed. A nice hutment had some interesting stuff on the highway display, but when i went in all they were left with was bush-my-belly anna, not sure if they spell it that way, but yes it sounds exactly that to ears, it’s some famous rice mixed cooked spices and curry.
As usual a few bypassers started eves dropping on Jenny, one of them dared to even lay his dirty hands on her but immediately caught my angry glance and was not seen again. The other guy was sensible enough kind of guy who always looks around if the hot chick he is checking on has her brother/ boyfriend/ dad/ husband/ son/ bus conductor/ professor/ traffic cop/ grocery shop owner and/or anybody who is/was/ can be /may be somebody to her. So, this guy walks smartly upto me giving me a hint that he is going to say something more hilarious than the yellow scarf and pink sunglasses he is wearing. He comes as close as possible a guy can get to other at a social family restaurant and whispers “Going Where?” I say “Goa” in a equally hush hush tone as if I had just revealed the formula for Coke concentrate. He jumps back two steps to see my face and gather what he heard... then goes other bystander twice closer and twice smartly than than he had came to me, and whispers, “hmm... from Mangalore he will load his bike on train.” I nodded in approval... now that’s not a lie, it’s just a adjustment you make to save yourself from the pain of answering another smart and more than uncomfortably close question.
Coming back to road, one thing worth praise is, the Karnataka tourism, for the awesome signboards that inform you all the tourist sites on the way along with small pictures of the place of interest. I had a list of ten different places where i can go, the closest one was where i went first (quite logical, isn’t it?)
It was little past noon and i was in a small but bustling town of “Shravanabelgola”... a famous pilgrim destination of the jain community. The word Shravanabelgola literally means “monk of the white pond.” This place has a temple dedicated to Lord Gometeshwara or Bahubali, the son of the first Jain Tirthankara Vrishaba Deva.
The statue of Bahubali stands atop a 470 feet hill and is famous for 58feet and 8 inches tall sculpture, which happens to be one of the tallest monolithic (carved out of single rock) sculptures. It dates back to 980 A.D. and shows the level of excellence as there is not a single effect of weathering to find even after thousands years of sun, cold and rain.
Unsaddled Jenny of all the luggage and stacked the stuff in locker, yes they have lockers a the foot hill ! Started climbing and in ten steps realised what laid ahead on 631 steps. It was steep climb with uneven stairs cut into the rock. The urge to see the unseen and a group of five banglorean girls, (an argument can be made of which of the two contributed more) made me double up my steps. To impress the fellow beauties, i pretended to take snaps whenever ran out of breath... let me tell you i have more than twenty photos of the same pond which looks same in all of them; but i am glad i fooled the girls convincingly...they were so impressed by seeing a Man amongst young boys and old sissies..( believe me, i am the writer of the blog, i have the right to write whatever pleases me !). I always knew that I am a great actor who could have hundreds of Oscars if my parents didn’t had showed me the road to school.
Unfortunately, my overacting took me so far from the beauty bunch that soon i couldn’t see them anymore.. but before i could regret that, i saw the splendour of human skill, and didn’t realise or remember for how long my eyes didn’t blink. The statue stands upright in posture of meditation known as ‘kayotsarga’ indicating self control and its nakedness suggest complete renunciation of worldly things. It has curly hairs, long and large ears are open, looking at world with detachment. The figure has 26 feet wide shoulder and has no support thighs upward. The background has ant hill growing and snakes and creepers emerging from it depecting that the lord is in deep penance for a very long time. The image is shown standing on lotus, signifying totality attained in installing the statue. The are many temples (Jain bastis) on the way which are an epitome of architectural excellence.
It was close to three o’clock and had two more historical sites in vicinity calling, so ran down the hill ignoring the strain in calves with every step. The pain surfaced when i reached the flat foot hill and felt the legs trembling like tail of a rattle snake. Had a couple of tender coconut and thanked the vendor for not only refreshing me with the coconut but he had helped me earlier with the information about the locker facility without which i could not have made it to the hill top.
The pain in the calf and wandering the bright sun had taken its toll..I felt drained and tired; so decided to break in at a hotel in the nearby city of Hasan. The hotel was expensive for a nomad but had a beautiful receptionist to help you make decision. Dumped the saddle, washed my face, a quick glance at the map (and of course the receptionist) and off i went in search of history. The windings, potholed and deserted road took me to Halebeedu and then to Belur. Both these places are magnificent architectural sites and need a lot of time to understand and appreciate the efforts put in by thousands of people for centuries to realise the physical form of what humans are capable to achieve.
Each of the monument need at least a day to even walk through them and felt sorry that i didn’t had more than a couple of hours. Took a few snaps to see the beauty later some day and decided to leave for Hotel some thirty odd kilometres away.
With dusk turning to night, the traffic nightmare came to life... the drivers in this part of world have an uncanny habit to overtake an already overtaking vehicle and then you are left to someone’s mercy and lot of blessings to get alive of that situation. This happened more than three times and then I left counting further.
After surviving through some of the worst night riding experiences and passing through curtains of dust and pollution, somehow made it to the hotel. After a well deserved hot water bath and a heavy dinner, went to sleep thinking of the places i saw and people i met.
Woke up at 5:00 AM and started at the crack of dawn, the road after a few kilometres turned to a single lane village road. The dark clouds were all above till horizon and soon the road was wet. The ghat was secluded and the waterfalls all around could be heard even when Jenny was roaring aloud. The beautiful river flowing in the valley and the windings road getting lost in wild made me stop every now and them. Just for records, a distance of fifteen kilometres took me almost two hours; and those two hours were the reason to life for. I regret for my incapability to put in words the mesmerising experience may be these pictures will help but will fail too.
Reached Mangalore and took the NH-17 that leads to Mumbai, aamchi Mumbai. The road from Mangalore to Udupi is a biker’s nightmare; a under construction four lane, honking buses, zip-zappin’ Volvos and arrogant car drivers. All of them come across to test your driving skills and your willingness to survive. A stretch of fifty odd km was done in an hour and half under the watchful hide and seek of sun god. Entered Udupi looking for a hotel mentioned in Highway on my Plate, but surprisingly came across many Chinese, Italian and Continental restaurant sign boards (i guess all Udupi Chefs have long left hometown and settled in some other part of world). After searching for an hour came to the hotel but to my dismay it was closed for renovation!! Cursed myself for wasting time in coming to Udupi but sneaked in a restaurant which had a typical Udupi aroma to it, but the joy was short lived because they served only Puri bhaji past noon. With no choice, had four plates of authentic Made in Udupi Puri Bhaji and then only could certify myself of having visited Udupi.
The Karnataka Tourism sign boards made me visit all large and small temples along the way, each one was special for one thing or other; but the most magnificent one was the Murudeshwar beach temple. A huge statue of Lord Shiva and few other beautiful statues depicted the Indian mythological stories. The expressions of the Chariot riding Lord Krishna and Arjuna was so very well brought to life that one looses the track the time and place. The parking is at the foot hills of and one has to climb a small hillock to reach the feet of statue; i couldn’t unsaddle and so decided to take snaps from the foothills. After some time saw a road which could take me on top of the hillock but it had a manned gate for that road was only for the guests of adjoining hotel. Anyhow made up my mind and rode close to the gate, but the security guard intercepted my march and yelled “Upar gaadi leke nahi jaa saktey” (You cannot take the bike uphill). All all the innocence on my face and in my voice i humbly told him “Chennai se yahan aa sakta hoon ton yaah se upar kyon nahi jaa sakta !!” (If I can come all the way from Chennai till here, why can’t i go from here to top?)
After riding for less than hundred odd kilometres from Murudeshwar reached the temple town of Gokarna which also happens to have a beautiful beach which attracts a lot of tourists from all over the world. Checked in an State run Hotel which was dirt cheap as compared to the Hotel in Hasan, but had more dirt in room than entire Hasan city would have, plus the male receptionist here needed cheap fares to attract customers unlike Hasan.
After a cold bath and drying myself under fan (yes the Hotel doesn’t give you towel), i was ready to head towards the beach. The pain in my calf muscle was still hurting every step and the beach more than two kilometres away. The town was not even tenth crowded of what i had seen it last time i visited some ten years ago. There was a clam in air and everyone was busy doing nothing. After passing across the small hutments and the temple a small lane took me to the beach(this beach is the town beach and not the famous Om beach) which a small tea and snack shops. Had a tasteless cup of tea and followed it with a Bhel (Bombay Mix) and two cups of equally tasteless coffee. Bade good bye to the sun who was in a hurry and disappeared quite high above sea into dense clouds. The sea breeze, gushing sound, dusky orange skies and kids building sand castle and playing with their parents made a perfect ending to another awesome day on ride.
Woke up at 6 AM, two hours after the alarm went off, with a bad ache in claf muscle (this was much severe than the hangover headache and lemon juice is of no help). A gentle massage (self) and Govinda baby steps helped me to get ready for walk to temple. Surprisingly the sanctum of the temple had only six people and the priest guided me to touch the Lingam rock amidst holy chanting. It was an spiritual experience indeed !!
Had a cup of coffe at Pai’s restaurant and got back to hotel to saddle, but was in ho hurry as the destination was less than 150 km away. A sudden rain shower set up the mood and off i was on the road. The brimming lakes, the green paddy feilds, the marvellous mountains, waterfalls everywhere and me with Jenny was a perfect reciepe for a wonderful life.
Soon i crossed over the port city Karwar, the heavily guarded Navy base and a small ghat welcomes you and the beach at the foot hill of ghats makes sure you remember that you had crossed over this place.
The Karnataka / Goa border came much earlier than i expected but the early morning open Bars stood there as expected. I was hungry but all the shacks were Bars. After another 45 minutes of rides on top of a ghat, came across a small shop where the kind lady served me a double omelette and hot tea , twice.
The “Meeting Point” at Vasco Junction brought back the memories of one hell of a ride done two years ago with Mumbai Roomie Pankaj and Eveready Rider Maddy. That ride was so full of adventure and had so many near death incidences that we named it Reincarnation ride. Standing there and talking to Maddy once again was quite nostalgic. I love to ride alone, but sometimes miss their company, especially in rain.
Soon thereafter i reached the destination, the Hotel in Panaji.
The Ride Back
After enjoying Goa for five days it was time say good bye and get back to road to Chennai.
There was no plan for ride back too, except i won’t go by NH17 again. So, took the Panaji Ponda route that would take me to NH 4 somewhere near Dharwad. The rain accompanied me from the start of ride and ensured that i enjoyed the beauty of Mother Nature at its best. A large waterfall, lot of snaps and a man to man talk with lorry drivers gave the kick start i needed for the day. Soon the ghat was covered in clouds and zero visibility was all around. Honking and high beam were of no use and so decided to go slow and safe. Took a few snaps to show off the fun i had and took the descent into Karnataka state.
The ever friendly sign board had now more than ten places of interest, but i was going nowhere, i wanted to reach as close to Bangalore as possible and stay there for the night. But as i went ahead, a board read, “Castle rock : 6 km”, and had a picture of water fall adjoining it. It was raining heavily and i had no idea how good/bad this stretch of 6 km is going to be. The road was lonely and no human being/ vehicle passed me from either side. The chirpy sounds and the dense forest scared the $^!# out of me. The road took me to a deserted railway station and an abandoned school premises. The entire village road had no sign of any human activity except for a Maruti Omni parked far off.
Decided to turn back but saw a few arrows marked to a small bylane i had missed to see earlier, so followed the arrows all the way for more than ten kilometres to a village where a Marathi speaking villager told me that the waterfall cannot be reached by bike and one has to take the train from castle rock railway station and it takes a complete day to go and come back as the train frequency is low.
So, cursed myself for wasting so much of time, but was happy to have seen some real jungle. A railway employee asked for lift which i acknowledged on condition that he will tell me about his village and Jungle. He gave me quite an insight of the animals that inhabit in the Jungle and how dangerous can a wild buffalo can be if she has given birth to a baby and you are even a kilometre away from the site. He told that the tiger, elephants, bear, etc can frequently be sighted on th railway track at night and he has had a eye to eye encounter with a tiger once. I know there might have been a little exaggeration in his story telling but he kept me entertained all along.
Further ahead i came across the town of Londa from where a direction board showed Dharwad – 51 km. I took that road which was a disaster, after a couple of kilometres, the road disappeared, it was only a mud laden track that took me right into Jungle. Again there was no vehicle or human being to ask if i was going in right way. After an hour of off roading a sign post said Dharwad 50 km, what a JOKE !!
Kept riding in heavy rain through the hard stone and soft sand, with a hope that this track will soon give way to a runway. That never happened and after more than three hours i saw the NH 4. What a relief !!
I was finding it difficult to keep Jenny from speeding and she was thoroughly enjoying the speed turf. Covered almost 400 km in 5 hours non stop and at 6:00 PM was at Hosur wondering why had i even thought of staying for the night before Bangalore. Took a heavy meal at McD few kilometres after Hosur and decided to hit straight to Chennai.
The rain slowly faded away and the journey thereafter only was a matter a time before i reached my room in Chennai. The Bangalore Chennai Highway is one of the best highway to ride at night with strategically located radium reflectors and signboards. So anyone planning for Saddle Soar this track is worth trying !!
Reached Chennai at 11:30 PM and after saddling down the luggage, thanked God for being with me all through the ride, called parents for their ever enthusiastic support and belief in my riding, Kissed Jenny for proving once again why she is a soul mate, thought how lucky i was to work at an organization where people understood my passion, Pumped fist in air for i had done it again, and then surrender to bed.
What a Ride!!
