Wanderer

Valparai: One-bar-town

2011-04-22T13:37:00.007+05:30

An unforseen opportunity and wifey suggesting that I go for ride made me wake up early with the intention of riding to coorg and surprising my friend. Huge traffic pile up near kengeri at Bangalore’s west exit made me rethink about my destination. Not that I had any destination. I turned back intending to head to Kolli Hills, inspired by Doc Prithivi's travelogue last month. Exited out of Bangalore south and reached Salem at around 11am, at this speed I will reach Kolli hills at around noon. Will be too early, changed the destination again. Googled and identified a place called Valparai. about 250 kms from Salem.

Reached Pollachi via coimbatore, had lunch in a village shack. (was force fed the ton of food by the grandma who run the place) headed towards Valparai.

460kms from Bangalore Valparai is a small tea town on top of of anamalli mountain range which is a part of nilgiri biosphere near kerala-tamil nadu border. The population consists of tea workers and few traders. Pleasantly cold in peak summer, it attracts the budget crowd from kerala.

Almost zero human contact for 40 kms from pollachi to valppari, the route has 40 hairpin bends with great road surface to boast of. the route has No fuel stations and has only one tea stall enroute. The breathtaking views of the forests, backwaters from the mountains was magical.

The town consisted of 5 lodges, one semi decent hotel and couple of homestays. Home stays is about 1500 a night, I stayed in one of the lodges for 150/- night.

Had an opportunity to witness a village festival with lots of fire acrobatics (happened last weekend too)

Checked into the hotel and roamed around the two streets of Valparai trying out my SLR, misty and cold weather did not encourage me too much :) and ended up searching for a Bar. Surprised to know that this town had one Bar and one wine shop!!! the wine shop was closed and all the drinking crowd of the village jammed up to the bar. Managed to squeeze my way to the bar counter and found a standing place (boy it felt like a public transport during peak hours). Some villagers were taking booze in a tiffen carrier as parcel :) Strange sights. Chatted with some locals in the bar, went out for street food for dinner along with them.

Requested for additional blankets to sleep, checked out at 6am next day. This town wakes up early, hot vadas and hot tea almost everywhere to cater to the tea pickers. Had a quick chai and left the breathtaking valparai with the intention to return to this town. Also saw car parking on a terrace of a house, how? Check the snap :)

Route

Bangalore-Salem-Coimbatore-Pollachi-Valparai -460kms

350kms 4 lane NH road, 50 kms of bad road as you reach Coimbatore, 60 kms of ghat road. Saddle time of about 8 hours

60 kms of misty ghat road made up for 400kms of scorching heat ride :)

Photos at

https://picasaweb.google.com/114138226108646875882/Valpari#

Prabul

Impromptu snap

2007-06-07T23:13:00.000+05:30

Once upon a time, not very long ago, I was having a coffee in my office cafeteria with my collegues. It was around sunset time. The sun was low, just right. The rays were falling on my freind Ravi's face. Casting a shadow on the bamboo reed screen in the back ground. I was wishing for a camera. And lo, I noticed my other freind, Suresh Gowda, flaunting his new mobile with inbuilt camera. I tried it in b/w mode. And lo, I zimplee loved the outcome.

Chikmanglur Semi-Solo ride

2006-08-22T18:35:00.000+05:30

Better Snaps at http://www.prabul.fotopic.net/c1044750.html

This ride was supposed to happen a week before. Myself and Arun(BikeNomad) was supposed to ride last weekend. Did not happen because Arun was not able to come out on Saturday from his office. Even I had home-work and could not ride. But I took the excuse of arun and blamed him completely :-)
Friday night; went through the motions of packing my rucksack automatically. Packed my clothes in 3 sets, each in a polythene cover. It was 1am when I went to sleep. Woke up at 4:30, bathed, tied up the bag on to my bike. 5:30am started off from HSR . Felt very sluggish, did not feel the usual rush. Rode slowly till yestwantpur, had a strong tea, felt charged up. Increased the speed and was off. Ahh.... now that felt good.First time solo riding, was little apprehensive about the unknown. But it felt good. Zipped throughout the Tumkur freeway, stopped for a snap of the misty hills. Took a diversion to Arsikere from the tumkur NH, was on the smaller roads, no median, Prabul now reduce speed, I told to myself. Stopped at Gubbi at 8am for a breakfast. I saw a small rush of people in one of the by lane of Gubbi
Looked like a village hotel. Parked my bike, slipped off my knee-gaurds and gloves.
Had the biggest idlies of my life.

This idly had to be cut into two to fit the plate. .Excellent taste but could not fit into my tummy. Anyways, click, click, onlookers stare (the usual) and off me goes.

Enroute after arsikere found a sunflower farm, waiting to be clicked, me says smile please and click click. heard
some cars screeching and even louder screeches of kids...oh oh..
the car guys saw me fotoing and stopped for same.
Me thinks lemme rush off, already some uncles smiled and
came forward to chit-chat. I give them a dashing smile
and off me go

Reached Birur at 10am, yipee thats like 4 hours bangalore to
chickmanglur. I expected to reach in afternoon. Good now I had
a lot of time to explore. Long back I saw an entry in a Outlook
traveller's 52 weekend getways from bangalore, about a resort
in Chikmanglur called "Shivgiri Trails". I did call them couple of
times but no response. Thought this would be a good oppurtunity
to go give them a surprise visit. I took a diversion some 12 kms
before Lingdahalli and proceeded towards yemandohalli A proparah dirt track. Many villagers were not aware of the place called "Shivgiri trails". Since no rush, I took my time in searching for the place.

Mr.Mariappa near hogarkenahalli showed me a hill
and said that there is some sort of resort on top of the hill.
Squinted throught the faint drizzle and saw that the top
to the top of the hill looks like a exciting one.

Vrrooom here I go, lonely mud road to the top,
quite number of hairpin bends reached this "Resort".
The resort was swamped with Excavators and dumpsters!!!.
Met the owner, Mr.Nanda kumar, he is the one who is taken
over the resort and was awaiting for the mining license to
mine the iron-ore. Felt sad that the rich country side will
not be long before it becomes a arid mining pit :-( Took
plenty of fotos, in case the greenery is scavenged by
the excavators If I come next time.

. On the way downhill, thought of taking a different route,
I asked a Shepard (Or was it a cowboy) about the
different route to Kemmangudi. He claimed the only
route was to take the same which I came. Hmm... nat
a bery inthresthing option. I asked him "How do you go to
that next hill" he says "See that cattle track., I take that route".
So me thought, if cattle can go, I can go too. Anyways
chatted with him some more time, made him take some
snaps of myself, since his food time was only in the evening,
I shared my buttermilk and biscuits.

Okie..now the time to go. I went on the cattle track for 3 kms, which took close to an hour. then realized the stupidity of the venture and came back to the original route. Stopped at the lingdahalli tea shop, had a steaming hot tea with biscuts at around 12 O clock. Gupshupp with the locals and spreading the news of the forthcoming mining venture. All nodded and mentioned that mining was bad for ecology of the region. At least did my share of spreading awareness. Asked about the routes, all the villagers, who were sitting near the bustand collectively mentioned that the trek to hebbe falls was perilous, due to heavy rains, slippery track infested with leeches. Ok, I say, me not go in my most rustic kannada

Started riding towards Kemmangudi(KG). 30 kms through bad roads, heavy rains, thick mist and plantations got me to KG, enroute found two buses of college kids..oohhing and aahhing at the fantastic scenry and of course at my bike.

Not many tourists at KG, rightly so, these heavy rains is a big put-off for any normal people (No I dont belong to "Normal"). Rode to Z point as much as possible, then parked the bike, hiked the remaining route, click, click and back on my bike.

At the entrance of the Z point route I saw a tempo traveller stop and a bunch of uncles and aunties get off the van. One main uncle was walking gingerly along the track where as the aunties were happy. Couldn’t see the sight of the uncle's forlorn face, which indicated he was no mood to hike in this heavy down pour. So me says in my most frightened voice, "Uncle, don’t go hiking here, there are lot of leeches" and for the effect I pulled out couple of leeches on my shoe. That was enough, he shouted on top of his voice to all the people of his clan to get inside the van. BTW, did I see a faint hint of smile on his face.I went back to the KG cafeteria for my lunch. I saw the same herd of college kids confusing the waiter for the kind of lunch. I ordered my double omlette and meals, after lunch proceeded to pull the remaining leeches from my leg admist the starleted looks from the herd.I asked the route to Hebbe and puttered down the hill. Got a diversion with an arrow pointing indicating Hebbe falls 10 kms. So I went down the hill on a really bad roads for 10 kms

This route was supposed to have beautiful scenery. But alas, the rains and the thick mist seemed like a white shutter pulled down and ensured that I cannot see much. 10kms up, but no hebbe falls, 14 kms up no hebbe again. Me thinks...hmm.... there is some thing wrong. Parked my bike and waited for a soul to pass by for directions. 5 min passed, 10 min passed and me getting extremely cold. Ok I find a two local guys on a Victor putter along. I asked the directions and sadly found that I taken a wrong deviation..damn...damn...I have to go back 14 kms and another 10 kms to reach the falls. I had good intentions of ditching the whole hebbe trip all-together. The victor guys did not help much, by telling me that the roads were really bad, before they left. The rains were at their worst, cold and the wind was getting on my nerves. I still had about 2 hours of sunlight. Ok, I make a U-turn and go towards Hebbe. On the way I found a Van, with its right side two wheels stuck in a freshly covered ditch. And the passengers(Convanys or Memphis) was outside the van trying to set it right without much sucess. I stopped and mentioned that I will tell somebody at the KG for a tractor or 4-wheeler. Well I had to take another 3.5 kms diversion to do so. But all in a good cause. Went to the guesthouse office, informed the manager and was back to the hebbe falls route (Though I wanted to go back to Chikmanglur on to a warm bed). Was not able to see the track properly, ended up twice in a coffee estate.....damn....damn....Looks like the evening a

lot of things are going wrong. Just when I thought of going back, I met a really slippery steep track. Thump!!! I fell. I tried to get up, was able to do with a bit of balancing. The route was so slippery that I could not pick up the bike. Bingo gotta idea, I kicked my fallen bike, it slided towards some rocks. I got the grip there to lift it. After losing the route third time...I decided to turn back. But did not want to give up

U turn and was back to the hebbe, peering through the rain so that I dont get lost again. The next 10 kms of ride was one of the most difficult ride on my bike so far. Leeches, rain and very very slippery track sapped all my energy. I found a group of techies on the way up from falls. Hai/bye and on my way again. Reached the bottom of the hill in one peice. Saw a pretty stream, tried to take my bike through it. No luck, and on top of it, the tyres got stuck in the rocks....HEEELLP!!!

....ahh there comes my angel ..Thimmapa..he helped to lift my bike out of the stream. Good, thank you thimma..me had enough of it. And me was about to turn back. Angel says "Saar, you have come so far in this difficult terrain, why dont you see the falls" me says" Hmm.... " Actually I have only a very little of day light, but he says the short trek can be done in 45 mins both the ways and he will come with me. Uh..oh...Ok, I go. He says "Saar, carefull, its very very slippery here" , I say "Me a expereienced trekker" and show him my mighty trekking shoes with deep grooved soles and say "2000 bucks". He shrugged his shoulders and turned towards the falls....zzzzz...thump...ok thats me falling again. Jeezez does this had to happen front of him???? he doesnt say anything, I scramble to follow him. crossed two more streams and zzzzzz....thump.....damn...I fall again. He says "Saar, give me your hand" I did not have a choice. l let him lead the way by holding my hand.

Voila, hebbe falls suddenly in front of me. Its amazing sight. like a mini naigara falls. Ok, time to turn back, its getting late. Said tata bye bye to thimma. and rode up the hill, surprisingly the ride up was much easy. reached within half hour. Enroute, saw the teches again. tata to them again. When I reached on top, I saw the victor guys pushing their bike, out of petrol. I took out my tube and transferred a half liter to victor and was on my way. I suddenly realized a stupid mistake, I donated the fuel when the bike was under reserve. Damn...damn. I met another local. he mentioned that if I go back the lingdahalli, there is a petrol bunk. I was no mood to go back as I wanted to go through the BB hills range. But the nearest bunk is 43 kms. In my condition, it was cutting very close. But took the risk and went the hilly range route.

Amazing scenery was enough to make up the extremely bad roads. Met a coffee planter and he mentioned that there is a village ahead and in a particular shop, we would get loose petrol. Cool, after 8 kms I found this shop , which along with petrol it also had hot omlettes and chai. Excellent butt break, filled my self and the bike with fuel and was off to chikmanglur town. Did some enquires and settled at Planter's hotel, quite decent. Cajoled the front desk for hot water, seeing my wet and dripping condition agreed. Checked into my room, pulled out the remaining two leeches, had a hot water bath. While waiting for Arun and peru, I decided to check out the town, Quite dusty place, anyways I did not find any good restaurant for dinner, went back to my hotel, they had a good place. A little bit of liquid diet and hefty dinner saw to that I slept fast.

Arun and peru came around 11pm, some more liquid diet. Chatted about the day's activities and promised ourselves that we will leave our hotel EARLY morning 7am. Ok, good me thinks. And snore away to glory. Woke up at 8 am and found others too sheepishly grinning at the our punctuality. Anyways, breakfast was on the house, which we made good use of. Left the hotel by 11am !!!!. On the way to mulyangiri.

What a view!!!! The panorama was completely covered in green and mists at many a place. Beautiful. The rough ride was well worth it. Reached top with lot of snaps on the way. Parked the bike and strangely, we were searching for the track in the mist. Suddenly the mist cleared off and we found the steps to the temple. Ahh...... all the old memories are coming back. This place was very very windy and cold. There were cases when unattended children was carried away by the strong gale.

Peru tied a hanky around his head, Arun had his helmet on the way to the temple hike, I pulled up my jacket upto my ears. Prayed at the temple and came back to the base, where our bikes were parked. I met the Van which had got stuck in the ditch...a lot of hai and hellos. Admonished the driver for his careless driving. Rode back to base of the hill. I had to split with other two bikers as I wanted to come back to bangalore by evening (to attend a marriage). So me say tata bye bye to them, Arun and peru's plan was to go KG and hebbe. Though in my heart I wanted to go with them, I had to split.

Rode back to chickmanglur town, had a quick lunch and started to ride to belur. The road was amazing. On one strech I had made a consistent 90kmph for half hour. I had my frist butt break after covering 135 kms non-stop. At my second butt stop near kunigal, while having a tender-coconut, the vendor asked weather I am riding from KG or kudremukh?. I said KG but asked how did he know? He said "the deep red mud which had covered most of my bike can come only from these two places!!! At least he did not say "Elementary, my dear watson"

Another butt break near peenya, and was home at 6pm. Freshend up, and was off to the marriage. Showed off my snaps at the funtion, made many riders jealous. A rejuvenated and exiting ride, planning to do some more solo rides in future. I felt like Arnold, well...at least some part of my leg felt as the multiple leech and some unknown inscet bites left my left leg swollen parts :-(

Adventures in my bathroom

2006-08-01T21:02:00.000+05:30

This is an adventure in my bathroom where I got locked up and my 3 and quarter hour ordeal come out of it.
It so happened that I entered the bathroom to take bath at 8:30am. After some time I heard my phone ringing. I tried to open the bathroom door and something snaps in the lock mechanism, and the lock does not release to open the door.
Ok...I thought...let me finish my bath and look into it. After finishing my bath, tired once more to open it, but no avail. Tried not to panic, as, coincidentally none of my building neighbors were present. I started thinking on what to do, there were no tools in the bathroom to break the lock. This lock is that one which we twist the spring loaded handle to release the engaging latch in the door. Looked pretty tough too. It had three screws on the bathroom side, but no screw driver.
I eyed a metal grate in the corner of the floor which covers the water outlet. This was bit loose and I could dislodge it without much ado. This had a sharp edge around the circumference. Using this as an improvised screw driver, I tired removing the screws. after 20 minutes of trying only one screw was removed. By then the condition of the grate was too much disfigured and was un-usable as a screwdriver.
Again searched all over the tiny bathroom for something that looks remotely like a tool, no avail. Tried to remove the other two screws with help of one of the removed screw. Looked promising. Using the head of one screw as a screwdriver and after 30 minutes of painful effort. the second screw also came off. Now it was only a matter of time I rotate the plate which was hinging one screw, which covered the lock and unlock the door. But the handle was in the way, so couldn’t rotate the plate. In desperation tried to twist the handle with all my strength. CRAAACK!! the handle broke off.
Little bit of panic was creeping in. But, seeing the positive side of it, the covering plate can be rotated. Imagine my frustration, when I saw that this plate is only a covering, with the door behind this plate!! And I expected the lock mechanism, the lock mechanism is on the other side of the door, info, quite useless to me now. I sat down, trying to think of the way out. The only way I can see that was to chip of the wood covering the lock. Hopefully I get to the mechanism now.
But I needed tools, voila!! the plate which I peeled away, when placed in a particular angle can be used as a chisel. For hammer, I used the broken handle. Without bending the plate, slowly chipping away the wood for an hour I was able to reach the lock mechanism. One more hurdle, this lock mechanism had square hole which had to turned to release the latch. There was nothing of any thing remotely resembling a shaft which can fit into the slot. Sat on the floor thinking......There was an unused calling bell in the bathroom. Broke it open, found two ruler like aluminum parts of around 6 inches. I hammered the front of the aluminum ruler into conical shape such that it fits into the square slot in the lock mechanism. Yippeee. the mechanism turned and released the latch.
My next problem was, I had to turn the mechanism and open the door towards myself. Which was more difficult than I thought. I had push aluminum ruler into the door hard, rotate it at the same time and pull the door towards myself!! This door does not have a handle. After some trial and error, was finally got this too right. And the door opened.....YAHOOOO!!! Out at 11:45am
Lessons learnt
One: Stitch in time saves nine. I should have fixed the lock when I was aware there was something wrong with it.
Two: There is always a solution and a way out.
Three: Do not panic. Evaluate.

Self Portrait

2006-05-22T01:17:00.000+05:30

Been thinking of a self portrait from some time. So here it is, Rugged Bronx alley style.

Kite Runner

2006-05-10T10:30:00.000+05:30

I thought I was beyond the hill to be moved by mere printed words. But words they are, so beautifully weaved, could move a mountain, let alone me. Is it possible to write a book giving so much of graphical description of human relations. The book feels more of a autobiography, and somewhere deep within I feel that there is more truth than what is claimed as a "Story". I used to read from my child hood and pretty proud of the fact that I have finished one whole library, but in over a hundreds of books I read, never has any book evoked such an intense emotion.

Did you ever read more eloquent book describing pain? Its heart wrenching. I read hardly 70 pages of it, and I am in a dilemma. I cannot seem to read further without feeling miserable nor I cannot stop reading it. The narration is so vivid, that I feel the words have turned into blood and flowing through my veins. Damn, why ever did pick up the book.

And for you Hosseini, hats off, A thousand times over!

Welcome the glow!!

2006-05-05T06:57:00.000+05:30

One more snap of the sunset. Sun going down behind those buildings. It gave a strange combination of white light and blue pheripheral light. The reflection you see is the top of my car. Dont have a tripod yet. The way me go on clicking, I better buy one. BTW, why do you think we like sunsets so well??? May be its the primal instincts of start of tirbal dances and music after sunset. Mata....oooea...ooooh....ooo...ooo....din....chak...din chak

Dream Bike

2006-05-03T19:22:00.000+05:30

My Pal, Joe's Bike.
One day, I am going to own it!!!

Is it the camera or is it me?

2006-04-29T10:42:00.000+05:30

I am not sure. But now-a-days I see the things in the perspective of the camera lens. Or may be I see more of colors around me. Their depth or their all encompassing arms makes us feel so small. Why is that I dont observe when I am in india??? Does views in india is any less?? definatly not. A quick view through my Foto album dicards this thought. Is that we dont have time back home? Are we too busy to observe the colors. Atleast I dont see myself trying to take snaps on the way back home, like I do here. May be its the reason why I love travelling so passionately. May be I have a escapsim tendency. Or use the reason of travel to capture the colors in god's paint palatte. May be thats why.........

Gods creation?

2006-04-29T10:35:00.000+05:30

Gods creation or kid playing with pastels??? Awesome display of colors. Sodium vapour lamp light on pink flowered tree in dusk light.

Spot light.

2006-04-29T10:20:00.000+05:30

Try to guess the location of the light!!!

Gostly image

2006-04-29T10:13:00.000+05:30

Orange security light gives a eerie glow to my freind Ravi. Does'nt he look like a hot charcoal???

Free country

2006-04-28T09:10:00.000+05:30

Free country America,
The statement "Free country US" got me into thinking. How free is a free country? Pretty relative statement, I think. Feeling of claustrophobia is very much prevalent in this country. You are so forced into the strict laws here, that the citizens here follow almost automatic. How often do you think you can take a 'U' turn in your country without worrying about the double yellow line crossing? Even though the streets are empty without a soul around. For that matter soulless people around. You cannot walk if there is no side walk. I wanted to take a walk around my house , but not possible to walk after couple of miles because of lack of sidewalk or place to cross the street. Free country, certainly not.
We wanted to take some snaps of an excellent country side near the beach road. But whole of the 20 mile stretch had sign boards as "No Stopping" Darn, even thought there was enough grass land on each side of the road for 10 trucks to park side by side. Free country!!!
It seems there are 4 million cameras in US. 4 million!!! that means one camera for every 100 people and going by an Ad for a clothing company which has a famous byline "You are on camera 10 times a day, are you dressed up for it". Very thought provoking statement, that is.In pre-Victorian England, a philosopher named Jeremy Bentham masterminded what he considered the perfect prison. In his circular Panopticon, each isolated cell faced into a central tower manned by guards hidden behind Venetian blinds. One guard could watch any prisoner at any time without being seen -- creating a sense of "invisible omniscience." The law makers in US has taken that statement verbatim.Here you have cameras at all convincible locations, at the stop signs, at the numerous signals, In city you go to any mall, any streel with out the looming signboard arrogantly proclaiming "Place under CCTV surveillance". I immediately look up for the big brother camera, not with success every time. But for the free country citizens it has become a part of their life. They dont bother about it.
If you feel like sitting, there is a particular place. If you feel like stopping your car, there is a stipulated place. You have to maintain a minimum speed. Maximum speed, No chai ka dhukkan, no sutta place. Yes if you are living in a place like NY or SFO slightly better. But most of the places have anarchic rules.
Mera bharat mahan

Sillouthes at dusk

2006-04-23T13:42:00.000+05:30

This snap was taken in Central park, New York, at dusk. Couldn’t help missing out the trees sillouthed against the stark blue background of evening sky. The lights you see are of Christopher Columbus circle. Slow speed setting

Reflections on the window pane

2006-04-22T11:46:00.000+05:30

Kinda liked this pic, if not for that flash. Silouthes of trees against the greyish sky. Sun shining in one of the spot on the building.

Rain clouds

2006-04-22T11:17:00.000+05:30

Snap taken near my office, tired to capture the impending rain clouds on the background and the sunlight falling on the trees like a spot light. Taken on the way back to from my office. Felt like running around in the woods shouting "AYeeeeeeeee0000000000000000" like tarzan ;-)
Oh Jane, where are you????

Why travel

2006-04-22T11:02:00.000+05:30

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things youdidn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail awayfrom the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.Dream. Discover.- Mark Twain
My two cents
I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The euphoria of movement...leaves me breathless. I think that travel comesfrom some deep urge to see the world, like the urge that brings up asmells of masala dosa in me when I am ravishingly hungry (Which is quite often). Exploring connects the harmony which once existed between manand the universe. No matter where you travel, there you are!! Thejourney is my home.Time to seek unknown places, seeing days of scenes and curioushappenings in far-off lands! You have thought of doing this, almost promised yourself that when you got old enough, and rich enough, andcould "spare the time," you too would go around the world. Most of us get old enough; some of us get rich enough; but the time! the time! - tospare the time, to cut loose from home, dreary desks, quit clients,telecoms, Ashoka bar, coffee day coffee, many a promise must be brokento Live life, Explore all colors of rainbow...experience the sounds ofsilence. Hear your heartbeat sync with the elements. Blend withdifferent cultures.I think that wherever your journey takes you, there are new godswaiting......... could be the same reason why the sages had totravel(walk) for years before they reach the destination, for travelbroadens the mind. The folks less traveled read only a page of the book.Every exit is an entry somewhere else. Traveling is a brutality. Itforces you to trust strangers and to lose sight of all that familiarcomfort of home and friends. You are constantly off balance. Nothing isyours except the essential things - air, sleep, dreams, the sea, thesky-----to lose sight of shore, will bring out the real you.

missing benne dosae'

2006-04-07T08:13:00.000+05:30

50 days in US of A. Getting reminded of the benne dosa and the smell of capsicum bajjis very often.
I remember one particular period of my life, where I was totally addicted to the oil rich snacks. I used to work in a small scale industry near ramaiah college, bangalore. I had an equally addicted colleague. In the evening we generally go for our yummy snacks. Our long conversations would go on like this.
Prabul: "Hi"
Raghu: "Ok"
And we are off to Janata hotel@ malleshwaram. Once you enter, its like entering a time machine. You will find old furnitures and older waiters. This place is perpetually full of customers. Most often than not you may have to wait for a seat, which most probably you may have to share with others.
You can find a pattern of people visiting here. Many are old people who has a royal old world charm look among them, drooping cheeks with eyes brimmed up with knowledge of uncle-ish philosophy and knowledge. They would be in age BCA (before cellphones and ATMs). Even the younger lot does not seem to very different. You can find them generally with their shirt not tucked in , slim, with a black bag about size of a book with zipper under their armpit, furiously looking for a place to sit.
The equally old waiters with an air of superiority which would make taj waiters cringe. Waiters would be in banians and faded orangish dhoties folded much above their knees and the trademark red towel with slight brownish ting. They would ask "Helle" with a dead pan expression. We order our regular Masala dosa. God forbid if you ask "Yennu iddhe?" then the deadpan expression does not become dead any more, he would start into a string of menu. Which I doubt he would have understood himself. Even then, you would have what is safe at any tiffen room like this. But then, the waiter would have understood that you haven't come here before. A slight discernable micro change in his expression would mean that he has seen you as a regular.
You get your delicious dosa dripping with molten butter(slurrrp) uncermenonisly dumped on your table with thick chutney and steaming sambar already spilled on your dosa. Very few people achieve nirvana on earth. You eat this, bliss is guaranteed .I wash my dosa down with a coffee. Not machine coffee, but actual, beautiful, fragrant filter coffee, made the way it's meant to be and served in steel tumblers. As I sip it with a loud noise, nobody would even bother your way of drinking, because it's the way the coffee to be drunk.
I get a fleeting glimpse of how the place must have looked like when it opened, with it's clock and paintings and all it's customers. I'm sitting in a piece of history. I am sure this place would have been looking exactly same 50 years before. Most of their interior decoration is the same, that old idols filled with jasmine flowers and a big red flower in middle. Old solid redwood furniture and the aroma of delicious fried bajjies and benne dosa...
I hope they can capture that smell and bottle it.
Slrupp

2006-02-17T15:37:00.000+05:30

Prabul
Copyright: Prabul

Banglaore-Konark Ride

2006-02-17T11:50:00.000+05:30

Statistics
Biking from Bangalore to Orissa (my longest so far) and back in train.

Bike 1- Suzuki Fiero (Prabul-BN)
Bike 2- Pulsar 180 (Adarsh-BN)
Route: Bangalore-Triupathi-Naidupetta-Nellore-Vijaywada-Vizag-Puri-Konark-Puri-Bhuvenshwar
Duration: 3 days (35 hrs)
Day 1 – 730 kms @14hrs
Day 2 – 830 kms @ 19hrs
Day 3 – 120 kms @ 2hrs
Saddle time: Appox 32 hrs > avg 51 Kmph
Total Kms covered: 1680
Top speed: 112kmph
Longest non-stop stretch: 110 kms @ 80mins > avg 82.5 kmph
Fastest non-stop stretch: 55 kms @ 35 mins > avg 94.5 kmph
Total fuel: 38 Lts > avg 44.7kmpl
Night stopover: Day 1- Elluru (near Vijaywada) Day 2- Puri
Road condition: (Scale of 1-5; 5 being fantastic)
Bangalore-Chittor- 2.5
Chittor bypass- 1.5
Chittor Tripathi- 4
Trupathi- Naidupetta- 3
Naidupetta-Inchapura(AP border)- 5 (I can easily give it 7.5)
Inchapura- Puri- 1.5
Puri-Konark – 3
Puri-Bhuvenshwar- 2.5
Food: Avg food along very limited dhabas as the road is new and dhabas are yet to start.
Some snaps at…
http://cards.webshots.com/invite/pickup/111383595NOxS/album/546916618WbdoEI

Overall feel:
Kinda boring to ride on 4 lane highway for around 800kms. Took a short cut from Khurda (orrisa) to Puri for 50kms. Very scary, mangrove forest, swamp area and in night….not a soul around. Transporting bike back in train was a nightmare because of our callousness (Did not get our RC book, compulsory for transportation) but eventually did it.
Snaps below

Bangalore-Wynad-Coorg

2006-02-03T19:35:00.000+05:30

Log of Bangalore-Wyanad-Coorg tripPretty long log guys…but I couldn’t help it..too manyincidents on this tripPlan: Grp 1 (Fiero F2 & Yezdi) leave on Friday morningand reach wyanad by evening and meet Grp 2(Pulsar 180& Fiero). Route: B'lore-Mysore-Gundlepet-Wyanad-total of 600kmsGoal: Paint the town red on Saturday and return bySunday night. Auyurvedic massage. Fish fry.and....get tannedWhat actually happened: Grp 1 felt, enroute, it wastoo early to reach wayanad and took a deviation toooty. Idea was to reach wyanad at late evening. Butdue to bad road condition at gudulor, could not makeit. Me in Grp 2. We left bangalore punctually 1.5hours late at 3pm (like our other biking trips). Tookmysore road. P180 had a minor crash with a jeep. Now,P180 rider is quite experienced long distance rider,but he was riding to near to jeep, jeep had suddenlybraked and P180's head light kissed the jeep( yuck!).P180's head lamp was pointing down too much. But notmuch of a problem. We carried on towards Gundlepet. AtGundlepet we got a call that the grp 2 will not becoming to wynad at night but they would be joining usin morning. We agreed, as it wouldn’t be safe to bikeat dead of night with girls on pillion. But Grp 2decided that we would reach wyanad whatever time itis. And that was a mistake.We entered the bandipur forest at 8pm. It waswonderful to bike in the night when it is a full moon.We were euphoric. We found 3 herds of elephants. Andwe had a incident in the second group which I willnever forget. A baby elephant found our bikinginteresting and started running along side us. We werequite amused by it. But the elder elephants did notfind it amusing. They started trumpeting and making ageneral fuss about the baby elephant. I never was somuch scared in my life. We ripped away from that placenot even looking at our mirrors. Pheeew…now that wasmore than half the distance. There is no way we canturn back. The third group of elephants was prettycalm herd. When I saw them ahead of me, it took me amoment to decide as to weather we have go through thegap between them. Any way as we approached them theygave side to our bikes. Boy that was great feeling...What came next was one horrible experience. We wereaware that bikes are not allowed inside the sanctuarybecause of the inherent danger. We were also one veryvery frightened bikers after the previous incident.While we were in the core of the forest we werestopped by a patrol bike(or they seemed to be). I sawthe guard and stopped, where as the P180 behind me sawthe guard and did not stop. Hence crashed directlyinto my Feiro. The gaurds just wanted to enquire aboutthe elephants in the vicinity. Grrrr… and they did noteven help us to tie our bags back on to the bike. Soin middle of the forest and middle of the night withanimal sounds around us we were straitening our bikes.P180 rider was so tensed up that he wanted to smokethen and there. I had to heed to his request. Itwasn’t a pretty sight, all I wanted to was to get outof that forest. The second crash also set right theP180’s head light. At least something good thing cameout of this ;-) . We reached Wynad without much ado.(as if so far was not enough). Saturday, I took theresponsilibty of getting the P180’s bike repaired asthe brakes; front mudguard and head lamp was damagedtoo much for comfort. (also b’cos I was the only malluof the grp). When I enquired there was only oneservice center in that town and they don’t accept thecredit cards…damn. I was standing outside the sparesshop and thinking about the 1600/- amount as we hadonly 1500/- totally (ya ya ….not carrying enough moneywas another dumb thing to do) then, voila, I saw money on two bikes….ooops I meant friends on two bikes(Grp 2) searching for our hotel. I quickly explainedthe situation and borrowed the cash from them. Havingdirected them to my hotel I started to get the bikerepaired. While I was directing the Grp 2 to our hotelwe found a bangalore bus just about to start off tobangalore from wynad. Yezdi pillion rider wasimmensely happy and immediately got of the yezdi angot on the bus. May be 435 kms on one day was too muchfor her to handle, also that she is a first timecoming on the long distance biking!!!By noon we were to set off to see wynad but thenchanged the plans and off we went to Coorg. Enroute wevisited Tirunelli temple, to say this was one of mostpeaceful temple is an understatement. This is inmiddle of forest and surrounded by green hills. Going to coorg thro the forest from Thirunelli templewas another adventure. We were already late anddarkness was fast approaching. Couple of foresttribals warned us on elephants returning from thewatering hole thro the roads. Not on very keen to meetthe pachyderms we started to hurry to coorg. Asmisfortune has it, another tribal group gave us wrongdirections. After riding some 25 kms we reached theEND OF THE ROAD!!! The road just tapered to some dryland…which looked like a dry river bed. Since we couldnot see much. We asked the next soul which passed byfor road to Kutta (Karnataka/Kerala border) hementioned that the present road was washed off due tofloods but if we follow the same line we could findthe remaining part of the road. Now this is happeningsomething like 8pm. Boy…we were having incidents afterincidents. Now this is the last straw. Our bums werebeyond sensation on that bumpy road. All we wantedwas just to fall down flat and sleep to glory. Butanyways, we found the road and continued to kutta.Another bad luck, all lodges and resorts in Kutta wasfull. No other option, but to go all the way toGonikoppa, coorg. After 2 hours of drive in dead ofnight, in heavy down pour, shivering and hungry wemanaged to get two room after a lot of searching.Yezdi rider managed to get some bananas to munch on.Every one slept like logs. Sunday morning, we toured around Coorg and left tobangalore. With out any incidents thankfully(otherthan eating a lot of sweet mangoes near hunsurvillage). Reached bangalore at 7pm.I still have to get some of the sensation back to mybums..and I find it hard to sit on the loo……….waaaaahh!!!But this was the trip to remember.

Bandagee Trek

2006-02-03T19:28:00.000+05:30

A long log of a trek to bandajee, near dharmstala. In a nutshell, it was a different trek all together.For once, every thing went wrong. Our bus fromBangalore to dharamstala was delayed for over 3 hoursas some old man's pocket was picked and he made a hugefuss over it. eventually, inspite of complaining tothe cops some where midway, they did not search thebus, unfortunately. After reaching dhramastala we madeanother bad decision to take up a room to fresh'nourselves. bad luck hunted here also for us for we didnot get the rooms easily as the orthodox chaps overthere was not very keen to give rooms for a group ofyoung people of both sexes. (strange nah?). by thetime we got our rooms (after some drama) andeventually had our brunch and boarded a jeep to ujireit was already 1030 hrs. Mr.Bad luck was giving somuch company to us that our 12 kms ride went over 40kms because in all the enthusiasm of Manjunath (jeepdriver) he took a supposedly short cut!!!. We reachedGowda's house at around 1145 and started our trek at1230!!jesus...talk about time management!And my god it was up up up all the way. With our poorfitness and snails pace we managed to get to the riverat about 1430 (Pathetic speed). Guess what we foundthere????? Some nutty idiot before us did not dousethe bonfire he had made and the fire had spread to a20 feet tall tree which was smoking quite a lot and onfire at couple of places. We the heroes realized thegrave responsibility weighing down on our frail littleshoulders (made more frail by the heavy rucksacks)that if we don't put off the fire there is a very goodpossibility of a forest fire. We with our smallvessels, water bottles and tumblers fought over anhour to douse the fire. Had lunch (sandwiches) andleft the place by 1600 hrs. Our main aim of reachingthe summit for camping looked very bleak. at 1730 hrs,tried and hungry we searched for a camping place andcurrishly we found a good spot about 10 X 10 feet flatland. Collected the firewood for the night camping.I took out my set of vessels and little gas stove(voila!!!) made coffee by 1630 hrs, got the fire goingand cleaned up the place. Night we had dinner ofbisebelebath, sambar rice etc etc ... all hot andsteaming and by 2230 we were all done. we took turnsin pairs for gurka duty of 2 hours cycle time.during my shift I heard thrice the sound of elephanttrumpeting one quite close by too. well the morningcame quite soon and we were off after having somemilkshakes. We were little worried about our depletingwater stock. we reached the water falls at 1100 hrsafter having a heavy break fast of hot chappathis andhotter curries (WOW!!! I dont get to eat so much inbangalore) The water falls were breathtaking. it wasworth the effort we made.We planned to got the fort, which we started off withjosh and after a hour of hot and dry trek, one of usplanned to go ahead to the top of the hill which youmentioned to estimate the distance. Luckily our cellphones were was working so the pathfinder(!) informedus that he could see a tiny structure really far off.And that convinced us that we can never make it inthat hot sun to hike that distance. The shady forestbelow looked more inviting!!! Our plan was to catchbus to bangalore that day, we were still at top thehill at 1500 hrs. we tried to hurry back to gowdashouse, infact we were ready to hike in the night too.We came back to the same camp were we spent last nightand better senses got hold of us to camp the unplannedsecond night also. Luckily we had enough food for thedinner and for the next day breakfast also. And wewent thro the same cycle of coffee (Black this time,weran out of milk!) heavenly dinner and gurka job. Thistime I heard bear grunting when the bisibellebathpackets were opened. Boy was I scared. Any way weconsoled ourselves telling that it could also be owlhooting (ha ha ...) next day we had a hurried hotcup-o-noodles breakfast, and again we lugged ourstoves, gas and bags to gowdas house at 0700 hrs. wereached gowdas place at 1100 hrs where he had a jeepwaiting for us (We had called him the previousnight....technology works...). After a quick darshanat dhramastala boarded a bus to bangalore at 1530 hrs,bus had a radiator problem and stopped at sakalespurfor 2 hours. and reached bangalore at 0130 hrs nextday!!!Had to hear bashing from our PM as the entire projectmates were on leave!!!The pseudo-trekkers are ravi, adarsh, champak, sri,jyothi and myself in that order in the rockiessnap.Ravi's automatic camera is zimply great.