Cruise Mode, along random trails - Day 1

A conversation with a friend, 

Me: dei, let's get out. Bike trip. Tomorrow. Where? 
Friend: Anywhere. Wherever the road goes. 

And this was the flavor of our 2 days bike ride spanning 760 kms across random locations.

I usually do some kind of search over the destination point but for some reason I consciously decided to let the roads decide where it would lead us. In a way, it practically summed up my mood. I wanted to get away from the city, the usual life around me and the clutter it brought.

Day 1:

Who are we – A faithful Honda bike, a dear friend and yours truly

We started our trip at 6:45 Am on Saturday. My friend Sujith had done a little search on the area we would be covering. The 1^st location he had zoomed on to was Shivgiri, a small temple up Baba Budangiri hills in the Kadur taluk of Chikmagalur . Shivgiri is about 230 km from Bangalore. We took the usual picturesque Nandi Infrastructure Corridor Enterprises (NICE) road towards Tumkur on NH4 and NH 206. We had breakfast at a random restaurant at Tumkur and proceeded on NH 206 towards Shivgiri. There is nothing spectacular about the temple but the muddy road leading to the top of the hill makes it a nice ride.

Initially, when I started doing these long distance trips, it was to prove to my dear friends that I can do so just as they do. By now, I guess I have no one but myself to prove a point. Travel acts as an antidote, one I need every now and then to clear just the toxins inside and free the mind.

What is it about bike rides? At the end of it, all you are gifted with, is a nice butt-ache, back-ache and cramps in every possible corner of your body. So, why? A few feelings come close to that of the wind whistling its tunes through the visor of the helmet - bliss!

I frankly do not know the real reason, does love need a reason? To me, the joy of travel and bumming around, can never be explained only experienced :-). Ok, am not too much into philosophy, but watching life go by along unknown territories on either side of the road, infuses a Socrates even into a joker like me. Perhaps I feel humbled by life’s simple lessons. You are reminded that you are just another cog in the big wheel; you learn to take both the good and the bad roads with a pinch of salt (bads roads for the obvious, while good roads for its speeding risks) and you learn to encounter the harsh sun, rain, shade and dust with the same breath as its all temporary. I was lost in my thoughts about something bothering me when my friend screeched the bike to halt! I looked down and saw a little kitten close the front wheel, bang in the middle of the road, wondering which direction it should move. The road perhaps makes you understand the meaning of being in the present; you are practically forced to be in the present (no choice, else u get to see the hospital). Be it the vigilant you or the beauty you soak yourself in on either side of the road; you have no time for the past as it’s over or the future as it hasn’t manifested. I would need to learn to do that more often. 

"On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming." 
— Robert M. Pirsig


We reached Shivgiri by 1ish, bowed our heads to its deity and returned to Birur for lunch. After brief conversations with a few, we decided to go over to Bhadra National park – a distance of approx 35 km from Birur. The road to Bhadra is very scenic dotted by several small water bodies with lotuses in bloom all around. On reaching Bhadra, all our dreams to stay in a jungle lodge or visit the sanctuary evaporated, courtesy our uptight forest officials who sing only to the tunes of the Rupee. So we decided to give the tigers of Bhadra a skip; anyway they seem to be folklore nowadays. We checked out the Bhadra reservoir. My friend commented – Looks like this is an abandoned reservoir but on closer look Bhadra revealed its truer self (pic below). Makes me think - Are we too quick to pass our judgments?

Refilling our tanks, we came across a road sign which said, Kemmanagundi – 36 kms, Mullayanagiri – 70 odd km and Chikmagalur 90 odd km. As it was already 5ish, we decided to halt at Kemmanagundi for the night as my friend wanted to spend the night up the hills.

The road up Kemmanagundi in failing light was treacherous and it only kept getting worse as we rode higher up. My friend cautioned me not to look to my right as the road fell off into a deep valley. At some point, we learnt that we were lost :-D; no sign of civilization, shivering, and over roads that had been replaced by craters. So we had no choice but to head down(wrong diversion was the root cause we learnt the next day). Night halts at such locations in usually a nightmare without prior booking and it was no different this time. My friend went to enquire about acco at a home stay and came back gushing more details on the owner’s pretty daughter (Christian kutti + Coorg-y it seems is a bombshell combo :-)). . After some search, got a vacant place but was expensive for our budget. By then, we had met a couple of boys who wanted to help us. They introduced me to a Mr. James, a jolly old chap. I asked James for a place to crash to which he replied, “aah its 9:30 PM and at this hour I doubt you would get a place just to crash. Come, let’s see what I can do for you”. He took me to his 5 acre estate and showed me around. The place was beautiful and he could have easily charged us over 1000 bucks (as we learnt about the charge later on). I told him that money would be a constraint as we were low on cash and wouldn’t be able to afford much. He then replied, “You are my guest and guest is like my God, you can stay at my place for free, feel comfortable and I thank you for deciding to spend the night here”. We bid the 2 young guys adieu and they refused to take any sort of baksheesh and felt hurt in a way that I decided to exchange money for their love. Humbled by the events, all I could do was thank Him for blessing us.

We had a simple dinner of rice and dal with some rotis and sabji at a nameless shack and decided to shut down for the day. Just as we lay down our tired bones, it started raining, perhaps indicating that the Rain Gods had used the pause button just so that we reach safer territories. Rain on those dark, hair pin bends would have been :-)

....just for the record - the speedometer’s read 404 km (covered)