The ride that started off from relatively clean smelling areas of Mumbai, Khar, Andheri, etc.. It started stinking (fish, drying prawns, etc) till we reached Goregaon. And by the time we reached Marve, we thought we were already used to the bad stench. The pass-through from Marve to Madh was the worst of all. Me and Surya thought we were gonna throw up.

Even though as it might suggest, the ride itself was not bad. Literally enjoying the sights, smell and sounds of the local life. Most of the route was well paved (tar – luckily) and was an absolute joy to pedal along the hills.

Riders

• Rutu (Montra Rock)
• Surya (Firefox Pro-Runner)
• Swapnil (RockRider)
• विनय और पुरू ने हमे टांग दी

Time: 0430 – 1015 (6 hrs appox)

Route

View Larger Map

20th League Winner, Sir Alex Ferguson

Premier League Winners 2012-2013, Manchester United

Another Retirement, Paul Scholes

We (office guys, Girls weren’t really interested it seems) participated in the Puma Urban Stampede 5km x 4 relay.  Following are the results and the snaps.

Route

View Larger Map

Results & Timings

Company: MEDIA.NET SOFTWARE SERVICES (INDIA) PVT. LTD.(Team #1)

MEDIA.NET SOFTWARE SERVICES (INDIA) PVT. LTD. (Team #2)

Photos

Image courtesy: Gunjan & Facebook

Certificates

• Certificate Bib # 136
• Certificate Bib # 135

The long weekend of 27 March 2013 – 24 March 2013 had to get some increments on the odo.

Me and JK left for Mahabaleshwar planning to see every stupid honeymoon spot as a biker couple ! Plan was to go along the Wai, Satara route to Mahabaleshwar enjoying the soothing Wai temple. We did eventually but it wasn’t as calm and serene as in the movies – thanks to the scorching sun.

Pachgani being our first stop to do “sight seeing”. The table top’s only attraction – more than the caves the steps.. – err.. – JK would know better.

En-route to Mahabaleshwar was the fun-fair pit-stop at Mapro Garden. Full of people, kids, crowd and everything that Manas could dream of.

Mahabaleshwar as it promised was good on the outskirts and worst inside. Evening’s ride to the famous points were just as expected. The exception being the Elphinstone point for which we had to tread 10km extra in the cooling evening air.

The return journey was from NH-17 with Pratapgad Fort as our last scenic stops. The downhill ghat from Mahabaleshwar was awesome, something that we missed since our Ooty – Munnar trip. Had some awesome breakfast with the kitchen smoking our eyes as well.

NH-17 as expected was more interesting to ride than the NH-4 / AH-47. However the ride from Vadkhal to Panvel was horrific. Pen’s bad and narrow road (also read as National Highway) were the pain in the a*#.

Route

View Larger Map

Photos

JK patting a Mastif at Wai temple.

The Huge Kilo Calorie lunch that we had @ the Mapro Garden

The future Ninja

Pratapgad Fort, on the way down hill from Mahabaleshwar

The Final Route

View Larger Map

1. Mumbai – Chitradurga, night halt (day1) 790km (15hrs+) [travelling]
2. Chitradurga – Ooty, night halt (383km, day2) (8hrs+)[travelling]
3. Ooty (day3) [rest]
4. Ooty – Munnar, night halt (day4, 242km, 5hrs+) [rest + travelling]
5. Munnar, Kochi and Alleppey  (day 5) [rest]
6. Alleppey, night halt (day6, 60km, 1hr+) [rest]
7. Thiruvilwamala (jk’s home village) (day7, 166km, 3hrs) [rest]
8. Thiruvilwamala, and around (day8, ) [rest]
9. Krishnagiri, Tamilnadu night halt (day 9) [travelling]
10. Belgaum, Karnataka night halt (day 10) [travelling]
11. Mumbai (day 11) [travelling]

Stupid Numbers

• Total days – 11
• Border Crossings – 6
• States Travelled – 4 (Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala)
• Distance travelled – 3,357 km
• Hours on Bike – 81 hours (3 days , 7 hours)
• Max. Elevation above sea level – 2,637m (Doddabetta Peak)
• Min. Elevation below sea level – -16m (Alappuzha backwaters)
• Petrol Cost – ₹5800
• Total Cost of Trip – ₹ 13,000 (including petrol)
• Memories for Life – Endless

Dec 16, 2012

The alarm rings at 7am. Its the last day where we can afford to laze post the alarm bell. Today we’ll start our journey back to the Financial Capital of India, Mumbai. However a little of Kerala is still left on the plate. Its JK’s cousin’s engagement, the very engagement that JK wanted to attend, miss, I’m confused just as he was all the way. Eventually he will have to make it. We ready with our bags, luggage, bikes keep them semi-ready. We’d make a quick trip at the engagement and then off to Hosur, Tamilnadu, our first night halt on the way back.

At the engagement, women are draped in lovely sarees, from colorful to golden striped off-whites. The men, however is a different story. Everybody, almost everybody has put a shirt, un-tucked – On a मुंड ! Ya – the मुंड. That’s the tradition, it looks weird, but thats what it is. JK is bending every muscle of his neck to take a look at available beauties.

Just one, right JK !? Right far in the corner ?

The food luckily is not a traditional wedding-lunch as we all central-to-north indians know of. Its a पंगत based seating system (Where tables are lined up for batches meals to be served), I never liked the buffet. The banana leaves again doing the honors of holding the vegetables, rice and rassam and saambar. The local food items reminding you of being in the heart of a coconut country. The hot sabudana-kheer is different from what we have in Maharashtra, which is a watery, milky sweet liquid with beads of Sago. Here however its more of a thick creamy basundi mixed with the starch ball-bearings.

Party over, we head back to JK’s place again. We’re already late its almost 1.00pm. About 400km to be done today, and its already more than half of the day gone. We’ve decided to take the route via Bangalore, avoiding the slow, narrow and perhaps bad roads through the hills around Ooty and take a de-tour via Salem-Bangalore. Its gonna cost us about 100km+ extra, but assured good NH road quality.

As we cross Palakkad, its gets very breezy. Too much cross-wind. At times I slowed down below 70kmph just to ensure my bike is stable. The winds continued post Kerala-Tamilnadu border. Which also welcomed mis-maintained roads and signboards. The same scenery that got us so excited when we had crossed Chitradurga was no perhaps repeatingly boring. Coconut trees, trees, farms, big road, windy road and a lower torqued motor under the seat. We manged to fight off boredom, we had a heavy meal around 11am so it helped us carry on for a while. But by 3.30pm we were getting tired already. Tamilnadu’s NH construction was a huge difference if compared to that of Karnataka. Each NH diversion in Karnataka was a neat tarred road, however here in Tamilnadu it was just a mess of cement, rocks, pebbles. And only a rider knows what it means to be tired and riding such roads after a smooth highway.

We decided to halt for some tea/food. The place was Perumanallur just ahead of Avinashi. We stopped near a dusty road-side stall frying some oily vadas, etc. We were tired from the dust already and wanted something better than oily vadas. We switched to another dusty shack – labeled as Bakery. We had some tea, and ordered for biscuits, Parle biscuits always taste yummy when hungry. JK asked why its a bakery, and whola! – Cakes – were the reason. We hogged on the cakes a plate after another.

The start was inviting, a CBR 250R ripped through along with a Unicorn Dazzler. Behind those guys the ugly sounding Bullet ‘thumped’ through. We followed those guys when we were greeted by another noisy two-wheeler, a vintage by modern bike standards – The Yezdi! Whining and crying motor of that vehicle was heard for long, while the rider followed the modern machines dragging his bikes’ ass along.

Bhavani, Erode by-pass, Salem followed. It was getting close to 5 and we had not even reached Dharmapuri, the skies were starting to show off its crimson colors mixing with the blue. We decided we’ll rip till its dark and then halt for tea. By the time it was Dharmapuri, it was already dark. Another riding session in the dark was in store for us. We continued slowly around 60-70kpmh till we were bogged down by continuous diversions. JK rushed towards me signalling for food. I nodded and found a neon-lighted restaurant by the side, we thought it looked as a good option and headed into it.

The restaurant was big, clean and the food was yummy. We asked the waiter about the location – Krishnagiri as he mentioned it. Which meant another hour of riding for Hosur, as we relaxed and waited for food, we enquired about the stay in adjoining hotel, which was too clean, had a nice view of a highway. We decided to stay back in Krishangiri. Back at the room, we were so happy to see neat clean beds with a blanket! Rest – finally after 350km of riding.

Dec 17, 2012

Today 6am alarm wakes us up. Outside, its cool and pleasant. I can see a big green sign board -

Chennai – Left – 300km

I tease the guys, lets also visit the eastern coast of India, just 300km away We head off around 7.30am. Our stop for today is Kolhapur, a freakin 700km away! As we get into Bangalore, the morning rush welcomes us, we take the N.I.C.E road which had a whopping Rs. 55 per bike toll for the Tumkur end. Well, it didn’t disappoint, it took us through 60km+ of 6-laned highway. Karnataka had started bigger roads, lesser traffic. Another way to say – boring. We stopped for fuel, where the guy overflowed Manas’ R15 when accidently his mobile fell off from his hand. Two things he did awefully wrong 1) Didn’t concentrate on fuelling 2) Talked on phone while doing that. We had some breakfast immediately and then after downloads (Each one of us !), we hopped back on discussing how empty and clean each one’s gut was. Tumkur followed and then Sira with its another set of large no. of highway constructions. We had completed a long loop.

The return journey is always the most boring, after knowing the roads, the scenery, you’ve got to traverse it again for hundreds of kilometers.. I was idling around 80kmph in the crosswinds when Manas zipped to me and directed …

थोडा भगाओ 90+

I followed as directed, in the crosswinds revving at 7500 rpm for 95kmph. We stopped at Davangere for lunch. Our first punjabi-dhaba, owned by one too! This one had a Naepolean mastif and 2 pugs as its co-owners. The food was strictly OK. We chatted with the owner about the dogs, and bikes. He asked if we had been to Leh, and advised …

यह बाईक्स नही चलेंगी, उसके लिए तोह बुलेट चाहिए

I exchanged looks with Manas and JK.

Kolhapur is still 400km away, so it can’t be our night halt for today, we decided on Belgaum and burned the rubber… Around Hubli it was past 5.30pm. We did that narrow stretch of 2-way road after which we halted for a water and pee break. I kicked JK in his butt.

चूतिए साले, इतना चिपकके लेफ्ट से overtake करता है !!!? और वोह भी local buses को ?

Manas followed suite with more road-manners for local transport buses. Belgaum is on the hilly side.. We started climbing, and we saw the same palacial building ahead. After crossing it, we stopped for directions, where a truck driver directed us to take a left under the next flyover for Belgaum city. In the city at a traffic circle, I asked an old man for a hotel.

पुढे एक उत्तम hotel आहे, रहायची पण सोय छान आहे

Woho! I’m in the language-battled land – Belgaum. Haven’t heard pure Marathi in all this trip till today. The hotel was decent bargain, just Rs. 920. with complementary breakfast. JK commented

साला परवडता कैसे है इनको बे ?!!

We had a cold shower, Manas frustrated…

साला पक गया हूं थंडे पानी से नहा कर

Then headed for the bar & restaurant, closing our day with last 500km pending for our return.

Dec 18, 2012

The idli is pathetic as compared to the more southern India’s idlis. The early morning breakfast readies us into the last butt-burning ride of our trip. We top-up our petrol, air pressure and hit the throttle hard. At times I land up almost a km ahead of the two bikes, then slow down. This continues till the top end of Nipani’s ghat, where JK finally stops inspecting his bike.

90kmph के ऊपर भागता ही नही है, I have to wait for a gradient for it to pick speed ! don’t know whats wrong.

Manas is happy that its not another accel. cable break. We continue, the ghat climbing down to Nipani and then in a minute to Kagal. Maharashtra!. But as soon as we cross into Maharashtra, the whole landscape ON the road changes. From barren lands to continuous villages along the road. From a sparse vehicles to busy traffic of buses, transport vehicles, private cars and local bikes ferrying in and out of villages. This was a distinct change observed while crossing into Maharashtra.

However the sweet smell of molasses and jaggery continued from Nipani. We halted at Kolhapur for another top-up of Petrol, where JK while climbing on the bike is unable to handle the weight and lets the bike fall on the ground. He seems to be very tired.

थक गया हूं यार, सर भी दुख रहा है

Manas replied.

अरे थोडा hold कर, अभी तोह काफी चलाना है

Ya, true another 400km still to go. We continue however, Maharashtra not feeling as scary as Karnataka’s barren NH4. After our early breakfast, we’re hungry and stop just after Satara for lunch. Its just 12.15pm. We order for 2 special chicken thaalis and one zunka bhaakar thaali. JK loves the combination of ठेचा (crushed chillies with salt and lemon) with झूण्का भाकर (Indian bread made with Jowar and Baajara). Its very pleasant, and we continued to rest after food.

Pune goes by and so does Lonavala. We stop by at Khandala overlooking the valley. Along with sipping tea we watch stupid R15s, CBR250Rs revving alternating the throttle as if they’re riding Chetaks. This is our last tea/food break together. We just relax watching the road and getting lost in conversation from किस्से (incidents) through our trip in last 10 days. We spent more than 45mins over tea, thats how tired we were and how wrecked over the journey getting over.

We stop at Juinagar to bid goodbye to JK and then wriggled towards Mumbai. As soon Panvel started the air was so foul smelling and polluted, that I ended up having a headache by the time I bid Manas a bye at Dharavi. The last few kms to Khar were a pain in the traffic. However the end point, HOME with a hot shower and a bed to crash wasn’t.

Dec 15, 2012

Today is our last day when we won’t be burning the rubber. Its rest day today. Nothing much on schedule today except for one thing – Relax and rest. After waking up after 7.30, we get a royal treatment of breakfast, tea, etc. without any walk to a tapri, or a dirty food-stall. JK’s aunt has prepared idlis, chutney and sambaar. Throwing away our awkwardness, I and Manas get into the kitchen. I see a big bowl, full of idlis. JK follows later with Vinu and Sri. The idlis are glowing white, I’m sure Rin, Tide, etc could use these idlis in their commercials. Not just with their appearance, but its taste too was supreme. I’d never had such soft and yummy idlis ever. In Mumbai idlis look and taste murky as its waters. While I enjoyed the countless idlis placed in my plate, Vinu and Sri tussled over the last dollops of the white coconut chutney. Tea followed and the feeling took me back to the bliss experienced few days back at Idli anna’s shack.

Its my parents wedding anniversary and the phone call had more conversation about the white idlis, its taste and the place around than the cliched, ‘happy wedding anniversary’, ‘whats going on?’, etc…

Thiruvilwamala, just as its long name, it has a long list of goodies associated to itself. It has its own rivulet flowing through a tributary of Barthapuzzha river, a lovely terrain of hills and plains, a picturesque temple on the top of the hill and the greenery of God’s own country.

Next on the cards is a swim in the rivulet. We head off with Vinu towards it, and we decide we’ll see the rubber plantation farms where we enjoyed our dinner last day rather fluids should I be precise. The rubber farm, is deserted. JK and Vinu confirming, its already past the latex extraction time which starts from 4am to 8am. However as the loyal tourists we snap some pictures of the trees and the latex rolling mill.

The rivulet has a small dam as well. We park our bikes at one end and walk on the dam crossing the water body to the other side where we could enjoy clearer water. The water is not crystal clear, but little murky however it seems to be clean enough and its cool. A December in Kerala and a swim in a rivulet surrounded by small hills full of trees, rubber plantations, breeze rustling through the leaves carrying the smell of the hills above. I know why villagers yearn for their villages in the harsh life of Mumbai.

Back at the bungalow, a traditional mallu meal awaits. We hog again, and come upstairs in the terrace, switch on the ceiling fan (ya, in Kerala, terraces too have ceilings/covers with electricals) and sit on the खाट having little pain in our hearts, – tomorrow we’re going to leave all this behind.

I and Manas both lay back and idly talk about the route, plan, stoppages for the next day for our trip back to our home. Before we know, our relaxed bodies lower the heart beat, blood pressure and we doze off. Its the first time in our whole trip that we’ve enjoyed the afternoon siesta and what better place could we find for it – JK’s village.

When I got up, JK was still in घोडे बेचके state and remained in that state for another hour. The evening was scheduled, we had to visit JK’s cousin who was getting engaged. It was in Ottapalam, which litereally means One Bridged land. This small town which was about 6-7 km from Thiruvilwamala, was on the northern bank of Barthapuzzha river. Manas and me both miraculously escaped the formal talks and greetings with the elders. JK was quick to take us outside the house, where we were able to breathe freely.

Goodbyes followed the tea, and we were back in the Malabar evening crossing Barthapuzzha. We stopped by the bridge where we had some snaps and then headed back into the hilly Thiruvilwamala. JK’s thirst for herbed lemon water drink – नंनारी – never dies, so be it! After the local refreshment, JK met his cousin sister, Suja, whom he probably persuaded to roam along. JK had promised earlier that we’ll go to the temple in the evening. Not that either of us were interested in the spiritual effect of these structures but the very calming nature these constructions of stone have on the high revving hearts of the bikers.

Thiruvilwamala Temple

The temple, I think, if I correctly remember, was of Lord Ram. We encircled the temple, since men weren’t allowed inside in shirts and pants, let alone rugged, dirty jeans with skeletons riding bikes on the tees. The temple had a huge oil lamp wall cloaking the inners. With the oil lamps lit, the orange hue thrusted a magical feel on the surrounding. A tall climb of stairs and back in the temple had made JK thirsty yet again. So on our way back, he had it again – Nannaari. I was too full of that herbed drink while half-tank Manas was interested in purchasing मुंड. JK helped him get a golden lined off-white cloth, the traditional wear of south India, with the colour pattern typical to Kerala.

The nite had a party. The new bungalow the occasion. As the tradition goes, the new lords of the dwelling invite the relatives, locals and the builder. The menu primarily has alcohol, with some non vegetarian dish to fill the remaining voids if at all the liquour keeps any. Manas looked at the people in their munds, holding one edge of the cloth with their left hand and a glass in their right. He tried doing it himself, with JK being the lovely maid helping the princess dress up. All that called for few snaps.

Post dinner, we retired back into the darkness, with more than 1300 kms in waiting for the coming days.

Dec 14, 2012

Last day was dedicated to our bikes, and today as well. Starting with the same focus, Manas’ bike needs an oil change. We get up around 7am and head out by the near by tapari for chai. I displayed my malayali skills,

नाल chai (showing 3 fingers)

JK laughs his ass out, shouting ‘मून चाय!’ While we have our tea, the aged foreigner comes up to the stall and asks for tea. We start a conversation with general ‘Heys’ and ‘Hellos’. Somebody from us asks, how was his trip goin, to which he answered.

Its going great, I’d been to all the temples of South India, Rameshwaram, Madhurai, Kanyakumari, now Allepy. Its great. Prior to that I’d been in North India, visiting Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, etc.

We’re taken aback by his itinerary, JK asked

How long have you been touring here?

O.. Its been 3 months !!!!

All of us stared each other, It was a nightmare for us to sync our leaves for a period of just 2 weeks. He continued..

I’m here roaming with my son, he is just 24. I know, I’m not the best partner for him, he should’ve been here with his Girl friend. But… I wanted him to show all this, that I’ve visited.

You’ve been here before as well?

O.. ya for a long period. I was here in India for 5 years of my life (We thought we lost a beat). I studied in England and then wanted to roam, I came here in India and stayed here for 3 years. After my money got over, I thought I should start earning and went to Australia. Worked there and then came back here again for another 2 years. I’ve visited the North, Rajasthan, eastern states, all of south India, etc. I wanted my son too to see all the places that I’ve seen.

We were left completely speechless. Our tea had already dried up just as our leaves were. But here was a man whose interests for touring never dried, he must’ve been around 50+. But still roaming 3 months+ in a developing country.

A goodbye to him, and we get back to our room, and head off for Yamaha Service center. Oil change done, we come back, pack our bags, hoist them and leave by around 11 am. The Panvel-Kanyakumari highway is busy. We get to Kochi around 12.30 and take a right towards Thrissur.

We didn’t have any breakfast as we wanted to reach the Yamaha Service station as early as possible, the hungry guts are demanding. JK spots a decent restaurant with parking right in front and we stop for lunch. JK orders a Curd rice, I go for tomato rice and daal and roti. Both the flavours of rice are yummy. I actually wanted to eat more, but none of my partners were interested in hogging more. Just outside JK has his नंनारी drink again, the first one just prior to the lunch. We’re gonna see more of this drink later.

Kochi to Thrissur highway, continuation of Salem-Ernakulem, NH-47, is a flat land tar route. So we ended up doing 90+ kmph crusing. The weather is reminding me of my regular trips to Konkan during day time, Windy and fairly hot. As Thrissur approaches, so do large hoardings of Silk saree laden models. Somehow its following us all the while from Coimbatore in broken appearances, but from Kochi its consistent.

As we go past Thrissur town, we stop for a water break. I’m already liking this town. Neat roads, thanks to the NH-47 right through the heart. Small bungalows, with some apartment like buildings, nice municipal grounds, trees all along and some up-hill roads. I feel I could stay in a town like this for all my life.

Thrissur is right in the heart of Kerala. With routes connecting Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, North of Kerala, Kochi and down south is a major trade city.

That was JK’s explanation for the Silk saree hoardings. We continue north-east, towards Palakkad. Its almost 2.30pm, and we have only about 30-40 km at max for JK’s village, our last stop in our trip. Along the way, somewhere in Vadakacherry, JK is spotted or JK spots one of his relatives. We stop. While we have water, etc. JK laughs

We’re close to my village, and I’ll be meeting my endless relatives all the way. This man is my cousin sister’s husband. We’ll stop in another 5 minutes to meet my cousin sister as well.

We move ahead and JK stops again, His sister is probably taken aback by JK’s new found expanding body. In few minutes we see a diversion for Shornour and we take it. The route now starts to get into a hill, it seems we’re getting into a forrest region.

Another turn for Thiruvilwamala, JK’s village! We come down from a hill, JK is happy, smiling broadly ! From the NH-47 from Kochi, to the narrow winding roads of Thiruvilwamala, The tar normally considered as an enemy, has taken us through the heart of Kerala. JK takes another turn pointing towards a bungalow, then doesnt’ get in. But goes straight ahead, stops and takes a U-turn. And suddenly gets into one of newly created Bungalows. Manas shouts

JK, साले भूल गया क्या अपना घर ?

He blows his horn, a lady is all smiles. They both start talking in the native language. His aunt and uncle greet us and we get into the lovely bungalow. We put our bags into the upper room, and come downstairs getting awkward as normally a unknown person would be.

While roaming in the Verandah, a bike comes in the adjoining bungalow. JK calls for the guys. Vinu and Shri, JK’s first cousins too are here for the holidays. Its their house that we are actually living. Vinu has a very distinct north indian tone to his Hindi, while Shri seems to have a Gujarati tongue. Both of them hailing from Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Vinu is a super cool chillax fellow, while Shri even though friendly seems to be very formal. Vinu with his north indian flavour also has the added spice of gaalis to his tongue.

We roam around and before we know its sunset. Its gonna be a daaru party tonite, JK’s cousins, JK and us on a farm house. So we head out for a wine-shop, its actually a back of the hotel. Me, Manas and JK get in. There is a small counter near the door, a hall in front of it with a huge wooden plank around chest height along the border with empty glasses, water bottles, soda, etc. There are people buying a peg or two at the counter. They come with their pegs, put water in the glass, place it on the plank, have a peanut or two and then in 4 gulps its down! Another one comes in, puts water in the glass, raises the glass to his lips, and the lips never let go the glass till the brown liquid vanishes! Manas and me stare at them and then back to JK…

Welcome to Mallu-land, this is how Mallus drink !

Back at the farm house, we ride through thorny shrubs, rocks, into a secluded small house which in the dark, seems to be right in the middle of a jungle. However it was amidst the rubber plantations. Wind hustling through the trees, the temperature too has droped, its now pleasant. On the big rock, everbody sit, start enjoying the night with the मद्य पेय. JK and his cousins talk incessantly, joking, laughing. Daasu another of JK’s cousin, the eldest amongst those seems to be an expert at cracking one-liners, as well as showing a lot of his physical brotherly love to his cousins which JK had already had warned us about.

Me and Manas only get in the conversation when Dasu with his Kamruddin style hindi got us talking. Manas, the half-plate also a quarter-drinker couldn’t have a lot. Finally we ended being back in his aunt’s bungalow, resting in the cool air of Thiruvilwamala.

 Dec 13, 2012

The back waters beckon. Its one of the attractions that we had in plan for the Kerala Trip. JK’s incessant talk with Kamruddin continues. History, polictics, foreigners, art, women, Kerala, Middle-east, you name it. There wasn’t a topic that was left unturned.

Mallus speak a lot and malayali is a compressed language.

JK’s validating every letter of his statement. Kamruddin has suggested us that we should have our breakfast at Idli anna. A locally hit fellow whose idlis are the softest, yummiest. So good that he has earned that sobriquet.

An autorickshaw ride takes us to Idli anna’s eatery. A small room for sitting less than 10 men’s seating capacity, with a small kitchen as well. We entered and as our urban seating logic dictates, we selected the most secluded of the seats. A fellow in cream shirt and the folded मुंड (local name for the lungi) came and asked us to seat ourselves as close to the other patrons having their breakfast. We told him about our choice of breakfast. While we adjusted in the small seats, the guy rushed and put 3 banana leaves in front of us. No sooner the leaves landed on the table, another guy put white idlis on the leaf, twisted his other hands, overflowed the idlis with chutneys and sambhar.

The idli was the best I’ve ever had in my life. One thing that astonished me – how could they get those idlis so WHITE !? We gulped idlis after another, while our half plate prince, Manas indulged in the wada. The white chutney too was so tasty, it was over before the idlis were, and as the tradition goes here – Extra chutney and saambhar don’t cost extra. JK capitalized on that rule whole heartedly. With mine and Manas’ smaller tummies getting fuller faster, we ordered for coffee, while we saw JK continuing on his gluttonous journey.

3 pairs of steel vaati with small glasses and the coffee was placed on our table. I found it to be hot, and waited, but then eventually placed the glass to my lip. I found it to be a little bitter which perhaps was too obvious for the idli anna, who promptly took the glass from my hand and poured the coffee in the vaati and then back into the glass. He did it for 3-4 times and handed the glass back to me.

I saw his squirmy face, and realized he hadn’t mixed the coffee, so I helped. And now after mixing look at him I see a glow in his eyes …

- That was idli anna’s immediate reaction in Malayali, obviously to JK who understood his tongue. JK adding a thunderous laughter explained it to us. I too laughed and spoke back to idli anna

aaah ! तृप्ति !

He gave back a big warm smile, and we head out towards the back waters.

A big shikara waited for us, with 8 laid-back chairs placed in pairs neatly covered with clean turkish towels. Aaah !! luxury ! The shikara covered protecting us from the sun, started with our young boatman rowing us through the waters clogged with Water Hyacinth. Oscar, our shikara head through the smaller channels to what seemed like a bigger water way ahead. I asked JK to start his GPS so that we could enjoy technology with nature.

The December day in Alappuza was around 30°C, humid as expected but not uncomfortable. As the boat moved through the urban water channel complete with Petrol pump for boats, small jetties every few 100m, the more beautiful picture of Alappuza unfolded. Coconut trees coasting along the banks, with other trees adding a different hue of green continued to ride as far ahead as our eyes could see till it faded into the haze. While we kept snapping at the landscapes, the boats, the house-boats made their appearance as well. With night rent begining from ₹ 6000 a night, they were full with the latest stuff, air conditioning rooms, wash rooms, LCD TVs, you name it. Mostly made in wood, they were covered with mats made out of bamboo. We moved from the smaller channel towards the bigger lake, Vembandu lake, almost 5 km. in width and 7km. in length, connected by other backwaters from north upto Kochi.

Definition: Relaxation

At ₹ 450 an hour, it seemed like bargain. Time seemed to have stood still. Our daily express routine come to a halt. We took a right turn where we then headed for a small hotel to have refreshments. We had coconut water on the man made island which is actually below the water level. Only the tall borders made out of natural materials preventing the water to come in.

In the rain, the land gets submerged under the water

replied the boy, when we asked too many questions about the physics associated with the land.

We concluded our trip in about 3 hours, then walked around in the market in search of a restaurant. JK called up Kamruddin, who said post 1.30pm u’ll possibly only find Annapurna open. The pure veg. annapurna was though was nothing more than a lunch home. We ordered for 2 veg. thalis while I wanted wheat and not rice, I went for chana and roti

When the lunch was concluding, JK called for Sambaaram, the guy came and JK opened his palm he poured the white buttermilk in his palm, JK drank it right off his palm! The guy shifted his focus to Manas, who did open up his palm and was thinking of what should be his procedure, should he drink it off the palm or should ask in a vessel. But before he could give any cycles to his CPU, the guy had already poured the liquid in Manas’ partially open palm. And before Manas knew, the liquid had drained from his palm. However just to keep the tradition, Manas duly drank the remaining liquid off the palm.

We came back to our cottage, to find our clothes dry as paapad in the Alappuzha sun. JK and me got into the verandah and I threw myself on the swing, putting my legs on the adjoining chair, when I heard a crash. JK had tried to get comfortable on the long, leg-extending-chair, when the chair had just collapsed under JK’s mass! Both of us couldn’t control our laughter.

Last day’s bad road patch had caused my bikes turn indicators to stop working, adding to that we were at the southernmost end of our bike ride in effect completed half of our journey. A bike checkup couldn’t be bad. We decided we’ll fix my indicators at Honda Service while JK too would get his oil checked, etc. After getting a pilot ride by Kamruddin’s elder brother, we ended up in Shyama’s Honda.

We called for a mechanic / technical supervisor. A tall guy, came in.. started to speak with JK. He checked our bike registration numbers, MH … He asked Maharashtra? To which JK replied ya, from Mumbai. He was zapped by that name of the city. He continued

You guys came all the way from Mumbai !!!! ?

Looking at my Gray Unicorn, with big eyes he continued …

… and on this Unicorn !!! ?

JK laughed out loud, while me and Manas looked at eachother. Manas quizzical,

Whats wrong, why is everybody so taken aback by Unicorn as the touring machine ?

Dilip, the tall guy, took my bike to the servicing rig and we like curious kids followed. A mechanic opened a side panel and got the indicator working. He said a plug had just fallen off. I asked Dilip to check for chain slag and see if I need to replace my oil. He nodded and asked us to wait outside. In a shortwhile he came back with the bike. He said the engine oil was good enough, tightened the chain and the brakes as well. I confirmed again

Is the oil OK to take me back to Mumbai ?

He smiled and confirmed, I asked how much would be the charge and he said – Nothing !!! Guess what – Nothing  !!? Had it been any other service center in Mumbai, first they would’ve had kept me waiting at least for an hour before a mechanic would even check my bike, then would’ve applied random charges, etc. But here in Kerala, it was free ! Manas told us stories about such incidents happening with other bikers when they had ventured into far off states, the guys would just do it for free. Today was our turn to get pampered.

On our way back, the blessing in disguise did its work. JK suddenly stopped, trying to rev hard. We stopped to see in shock that JK’s accelerator cable had broken. Yamaha showroom was just near by. But it denied doing any servicing, and said a service center was just by the corner. At the service center, we were little apprehensive, as certain parts are sometimes out of stock. And that exactly came to haunt us. The Throttle cable for FZ-S wasn’t in stock. But the resourceful mechanic said he could try the FZ cable and called for inventory check.

All of us were facing a reality which wasn’t luckily not too bad, rather too good for us. Had the cable snapped somewhere in the Bandipur or Mudumalai national parks or on the highways of Karnataka, then we would’ve had a torrid time to get the bike to mechanic, leave alone getting it fixed correctly. We could’ve had easily lost a day of the tour. But luckily all this happened right in the middle of a town, with service centers close by. Manas was careful enough to carry all the cables, engine oil and even the spark plug with him. He even had a huge toolkit with a foot pump. He warned me that anyone of us could face such an issue and we should stock our luggage with basic spares. So I headed back to Shyama’s Honda and got myself Engine Oil, Clutch cable, Throttle cable and a spark plug.

Back at the Yamaha service center, the mechanic had managed to fix the accel. cable correctly on the FZ-S. He checked the engine oil and recommended changing it. The oil level was near minimum. Manas closely followed his procedure of checking the oil and even verified it once. With boys’ shopping done, we head back to our cottage, about 7km from the service center.

At our cottage, Manas was finding hard to get a consistent reading of Oil level, after several attempts, the conclusion was – low. We decided to go back to the service center for the oil change. At the center, it was close to 6.15pm and the mechanics were almost done for the day. The lead mechanic who had helped fix JK’s bike asked us to come back next morning after 8.30am.

We were kind of disappointed after consistent trips to the service centers, but I said we had spent all these days for ourselves, today we pamper and nourish our bikes. Its bikes’ day today.

Back at our cottage, we had a bath, and went out to find another restaurant, Mushroom. I hoped it didn’t turn out like the last night. Luckily it wasn’t, after a good dinner we relaxed in our verandah where the Russian women kept coming and going out while another old fellow played cards with a younger man, probably his son.

We partially packed our bags readying for the next day, our trip to Thiruvilwamala, JK’s village. We had completed more than 1300 km. in our trip by this point all the way south. From tomorrow onwards it is all North.

Dec 12, 2012

I have managed to learn only following in Malayali

१ = उन्न
२ = रण्ड
३ = मून
४ = नाल
५ = Damn! I’ve already forgotten !

OK = शेरी
Water = वलयम्

I’m in the land of the Mallus or the middle-east? and this is all that I’ve got to hold my self in this terrain.

Today’s plan is the Tea museum, and then off to Alappuzha (Alleppy) via Kochi. We head out early after having another round of Idi, vadas to the Kannan Devan Tea Museum. Its the first time JK and Manas are going to resent the way the tea is made in their respective homes. First the video of the Munnar’s history and then the tea manufacturing process. In the process there is this realization of the fact, that all of us who are used to the टपरी चाय are not having the right tea. The right way to make it is add tea powder to boiling water, stir it a little and then leave it for its flavour and colour to blend into the water. But our tapari chai is more of all ingredients at once and BOIL ! BOIL ! BOIL ! Its poison according to few… but hell with it ! I like my chai the boiling-hot style.

After the museum trip, we decide to head off for Kochi, that would be close to 3-3.5 hour ride. After another effort of mounting, hosting our bags on the bikes adding more to the kerb-weight, we head downhill towards the more popular aspect of Kerala, beaches, backwaters, tropical climate with fields of spices like pepper, cardamom, cinnamon etc.

The roads cast magic on us. About 5km from Munnar, where the potholed roads get converted to the smooth, sweet, silky tarred potion. Nothing short of magic! Downhill roads with extremely good grip of tar unlike concrete passing through the tea gardens, then the hills with a perfectly crisp temparature. What else could we ask for? This was our second such road after Ooty-Coonoor-Mettupalayam. We swayed along with the roads as a mesmerized cobra dances along with the snake-charmer’s बीन.

We stopped for a refreshment break, had some coconut water, tender coconut. There were some pineapples on display as well. At ₹ 5 a plate for the pickled pineapple, it could knock off Starbucks, McDonald’s, KFC all at once for its food, taste, value for price, etc. And… can’t forget the shack location, made with bamboos right inside a tropical forest. It was one of juiciest pineapples we ever had. JK had been blabbering about it for sometime.

Once down hill, the road continued to wind around the local villages. We decided to stop at a local hotel. It was more of a traditional eatery, with more of city-restaurants like décor. We ordered for roasted chicken, daal, fried rice. Chicken was the pick of the meal. It had started to get hotter, Ooty, Munnar was cold, but downhill tropical Kerala was inviting. JK suggested we order for संभारम् (sounds like sambhar that is enjoyed with idli, but its spiced-buttermilk). The buttermilk’s property was what we were more interested in, however, the strong ginger, coriander, green-chilly spiced buttermilk was so HOT that I actually only managed to gulp half a glass. Eyes watering, nose dripping… I ordered for plain Vanilla ice cream by the popular local brand “Papai”. It was so soothing in the 1.30pm noon, that others couldn’t resist order their own dollop. We headed out into the verandah, where the huge entrance had seats etched into the walls of the building, and a nice mattress over it.

Get lost, मैं तोह इधर सो रहा हूं !

was my response when I threw myself on the mattress. JK too found it too relaxing to let go. All of us relaxed there for a minute or so and then revved towards Kochi.

Kochi is a nice warm city, not too big not too small, perfect. We go through the traffic towards the west, our first point of interest is Fort Kochi. We get to an area that almost resembles Goa, foreigners roaming, bright coloured cottages, lime yellow, sky blue, bright white borders. Small shacks overflowing with विदेशी जंता while we are aimlessly roaming finding Fort Kochi

Where is Fort Kochi ? – JK asked

This is Fort Kochi – a guy replied

Apparently the whole area is called Fort Kochi. We saw a board – Beach – and we rushed towards it. We stopped by, got on the sand. Manas felt blissed! He feels comfortable around the sandy beaches, coconut trees, the saline smell with humidity reaching uncomfortable heights instead of cold, dry, skin piercing weather of the hills. We headed towards the north side, where I saw what I’d listed on my TODOs for Kochi – Chinese fishing nets !

Chinese fishing nets

I don’t what is so special about them, its nothing but a huge fishing net hoisted on bamboos, in a manner such that it can be lowered or raised by using the contraption as a fulcrum (simple machine). The rushed with my camera on one of the jig, when the fisherman shouted back -

private property

waved his hand suggesting I shouldn’t go ahead further, I managed to take some snaps from the place where I was bolted by that fisherman’s shout. I came down from it to see Manas talking with a guy in his 40s, wearing a sleeveless jacket, half-sleeved checked-shirt on a pair of denims, big locks coming down from his shades of gray hair. Seemed like a rockstar or something from the gone days.

Manas in his riding jacket, exo-skeleton making him stand in an awkward posture was engrossed in the talk, as I tried to join the conversation hesitantly, the topic was clear – Biking. Manas introduced me to him and said

He was roaming here where we watched me in my biking gear

Praveen Sathe, was a guy from Royal Enfield. He had watched Manas in his riding gear and just asked where had been riding from. Mumbai – as the answer was a catalyst for more conversation. He was amazed when he got the details of the bikes on the tour

R-15 v 2 and FZ-S is fine, but Unicorn ! All this way !?

He asked us to check the Art bikes that Enfield had put on a display just ahead of the Fort, ya the fort – Fort Kochi. He laughed back…

Fort Kochi is another fort like we have many in Mumbai, Mahim Fort, Fort Fort ! God knows where is the Fort fort?

the Egg

There were 2 bikes, the egg and another the black widow. Black widow had its handles below the tank, almost touching the engine. Ofcourse it was art, and had everything extra accentuated.

The talks continued … Honda to come up with 3 more exciting bikes by 2013, which according to him will kill the competition. All of them, half-litre class bikes all placed around 3.5 lacs. The R, the F and our favourite the X. To the readers unaware of the letters.

• CBR 500R
• CB 500F
• CB 500X

We mounted back on our bikes, while Manas bid final ‘bye’ to him and came back.

He asked were you guys in I.T. ? and then said – I too was for 10 years, then one fine day had enough of it!

Alappuzha or Alleppey. Alleppey much easier to pronounce, while Alappuzha is ala+pu+ra+ळ. According to JK there is no syllable in Hindi that can describe the ‘zha’. JK imparts…

the ‘zha’ sound is made by adding र and ळ. But while doing it, there are 3 ways where you can place your tongue below the inner dome – Front, middle and back. This sound is made by using the inner most cavity

This intriguingly difficult to pronounce town of Kerala was our last destination of the day. There were 2 routes as suggested by Google Maps, first the extended Panvel-Kanyakumar – NH-17, or the coast-riding state highway SH-66. After some discussions, question rounds for the localites, the coast route was selected and headlights pointed south.

Initially the road was मक्खन, but soon turned sore, road-construction and its pebbles, sand made 5 km of journey a hell to ride, reminding us of our Sira – Mysore fork. Somewhere on the bad patch, my indicator stopped working (a blessing in disguise). But later the route came back to its rider-buttering best. It was almost sun down when we left the outskirts of Kochi. The coastal route as expected was dotted with small back waters giving us a hint of whats to come, coconut trees, dry-fish-stinking air. But it was worth the ride, carving its way through small villages of Kerala, where mosques, temples and churches mingling along.

We reached the town around 7.30 and with JK’s fast-talk with the locals, we ended up renting a room in a cottage next to the beach. The owner, Kamruddin another fast-talking Mallu which I wouldn’t have comprehended if he never broke his language into nouns, verbs, basic adjectives of English. Speaking here if I had to ask for a good restaurant, this would be my question with obvious gestures

Good – restaurant (with eating gesture) – on beach ?

I’m sure the english laureates would find its much easier this way as well. We had a bath and then headed for tea, it was late enough that we actually tried to search for a restaurant. We walked over 10 mins. along the beach-side road to find a restaurant flooded with foreigners, neat ambiance and hopefully good food.

With some luck, we got into it, however the food was OK to be lenient at best. Back on our way we lost our way and went ahead, but with some help, we got into our cottage. JK adding, that foreigners are living in the other two rooms adjoining to ours.

It was hot just like Mumbai, actually hotter. With a blast of a ceiling fan, we slept into the next day.