Abhilash said, "I don't believe you are going to do it". Even I could not believe I am going to do it. But I knew I am going to do it.
Around a kilometer from the Yatri Nivas, just after the Gundlupet check-post, I found a road branching to the right. This was my path, NH 212. The other branch continues to Ooty. It was a foggy morning. With only a tee and a jacket on, I started feeling cold. Around ten minutes later I entered the Bandipur national park. The road through the park was narrow and pitch black. With no pot-holes anywhere and sparse traffic, it was a perfect condition for a cruise. Both sides of the road were covered with dense forest. In that morning light, with fogs everywhere, the forest looked haunted. I was eager to meet some wild animals on the way, as promised by some of the road side hoardings, but had no luck. The ride through the jungle was a very memorable experience.
Wayanad : Just after Bandipur, the road entered Kerala. The change of landscape from Karnataka to Kerala was very dramatic. In matter of minutes, serene villages gave way for bustling, populated small size towns separated by occasional jungles. Faced some traffic jams at the check-posts because of huge number of trucks entering Kerala. At around 8 am I crossed Sultan Batheri. A small regular Wayanad town which looked to be densely populated. The road started taking twists a and turns. Occasional patches of tea gardens started showing their faces on the road side. No matter where you see them, tea gardens always make a beautiful view.
My stomach started crying for breakfast, so I stopped in front of one pure mallu hotel and had some nice dosa and mutta (Egg) curry. I love the Kerala style mutta curry. It is rich in onions and their traditional spices which give it a very distinct flavor.
I cruised through the beautiful city of Kalpetta. There were lot of waterfalls and temples in this area, with just few kilometers aberrations from the main road. But I had some other plans.
Pookot Lake : Just after crossing Vythiri resort (I think this is the most popular resort in Wayanad, I came here once from college) I saw the sign board telling, "Pookot Lake, 500 mts". It was indicating to a narrow road going to the right. Visiting Pookot lake was part of my plan from the beginning. This is not only a beautiful lake, this has lot of my college time memories associated.
Entrance to the lake is through a park where you need to pay for buying a ticket. They maintain the lake and also provide boating facility for the visitors. I parked my bike outside the park, along with the bag. In Kerala, and only in Kerala, you can leave your luggage like this.
Its a medium sized lake. What I find so distinct in this lake is the wild surrounding. Standing on the bank, I felt as if I am deep inside a dense jungle. I decided to take a walk around the lake following the narrow path surrounding it. It was 9 am and the lake was empty. I used this opportunity to practice some photography. There were lots of wild flowers both in the jungle and on the water. I tried some macro photography on them. The defused light of the foggy morning was of great help. I also shot the water from various angles. After spending around one hour on the lake side, I came out and started the next part of my journey. I had to reach Calicut before 12 noon.
Calicut : The descent from Wayanad hills was steep and fast. This was very much in contrast with the ascent, which I almost could not feel until I saw the tea gardens. In quick successions I crossed innumerable hairpin bands and spectacular view points. Couple of minutes later I was on the plains, leaving the Wayanad hills behind, like one big wall. Soon I crossed the Kunnamangalam junction. My college (NIT Calicut) is just fifteen minutes bus journey from here. I had a cup of tea here in a shop which I visited number of times while in college. I wanted to visit my college once, but time didn't permit me. I also spent few minutes in Calicut Medical College junction. In those college days, we used to come here after playing inter college cricket matches and used to discuss about the day's match, for hours.
When I reached Calicut, it was time for lunch. I decided to go to Paragon, a restaurant I used to frequent. To my disappointment I found the food quality has degraded considerably. The hotel management also appeared to have changed. Nevertheless, I took a heavy lunch since I knew the next stretch is going to be the longest so far.
NH 17 : I had to finish Calicut to Cochin ride in a single stretch. Its a good 200 kms distance. With an average speed of 50 kms, I could reach Cochin by 5 pm. But average speed of 50 kms looked to be a tough task on Kerala roads.
Through the bypass I took NH 17. NH 17 runs right through the heart of Kerala, till Cochin, and represents a typical Kerala road. It was mostly free of pot holes but quite narrow and continuously busy. Yes it was "continuously" busy. For my BTech, I have spent four years of my life in Kerala, but never realized this. NH 17 is accompanied with innumerable number of small towns. One town ends and another starts, making it very difficult to find even a hundred meter distance free of population. The only good aspects were the presence of the greenery, no matter where I was, and the frequently appearing bridges over the small rivers, which were coming as beautiful respites from the crowded towns.
Guruvayur : Soon the weather became hot and the ride became monotonous. This was the first time I felt, "When will the road end?". Road quality degraded dramatically as I approached Ponnani. Near Ponnani the national highway took the shape of a "national gali". To save some kilometers, I avoided Trishur and decided to take the Guruvayur path. This came out to be a very wise decision since I not only saved some distance but was lucky to get glimpses of a ongoing Guruvayur festival. Around six or seven highly ornamented elephants were marching together following a group of priests. Some local band was playing traditional spiritual music. I stopped my bike and took some photos of the elephants. I have never seen so many elephants together before. As I crossed the crowd, I found some more similar possessions moving towards the temple.
Cochin : Around 4:30 pm, when the air started becoming slightly cool, I reached a place called Paravur. From here a road goes to the left, directly to Aluva. Cochin was on the straight route. I stopped there and had puri sabji in one restaurant. Cochin was around half an hour drive from there, but I had to take the bypass and go to Tripunetra. Tripunetra, just 5-6 kms from Cochin, is the place where my aunt stays and that was my destination. The main road was blocked due to some repair work and I had to take some other route which was a very confusing one. After a seemingly non ending loop of "Take left then right and then ask", finally I reached my aunt's home at around 6 pm.
It was home. Finally!
I was received by my aunt, cousin brothers and sister among huge cheers. Knowing how tired I was, uncle did not complain on why I did not inform them earlier that I was coming on bike. Although he mentioned how worried they were about me, whole day, after knowing this from my parents. It was love all around. An eventful day ended with a beautiful dinner from my aunty, followed by a sound sleep.
Learnings of the day :
Day 1 : GUNDLUPET (7th Nov)
The Beginning : It was early morning. I arranged all my stuffs in a big hand bag. The hand bag, because of its wide shape, fits properly on the back seat of the bike. This is the one I used on my Leh trip also, without any trouble. I was selective in choosing things to carry. You can't afford a heavy luggage on such a trip. But important things I took were a bike tool kit and an extra clutch cable. Another very important component of the package was a huge south India map.
The plan was to start around 2 pm, from office. It got delayed slightly as I had some work in office. Also I was revising my tour plan using Google Earth. By 2:30 pm I was on road. I didn't tie the bag to the bike. Instead, just rested it on the back seat and passed the belt through my chest for some support. Not a very good idea for a long trip, but I just wanted to manage the first day.
From my office on Airport Road, it took me one hour to hit Mysore Road. It was 3:30 pm, just the beginning of the journey and I was already tired of maneuvering through the Bangalore traffic. But that went away quickly as I came out of Bangalore.
Mysore Road (SH 17) : Its a beautiful road. Wide and flat. Gifted with beautiful village setups on both sides. Before I could realize, my pulsar reached the speed of 80 kmh. I continued at that speed. As I swiped my bike through the villages, smooth and fast, as I left the snail pace vehicles behind, as I opened myself to the hard blowing wind, I started feeling a kind of freshness in me. But said that, I was concentrating hard on the road. One can not afford out of control driving on such a long trip, specially when he is alone. Around 5 pm I crossed the "Sugar City Mandya". Soon after, I was in Srirangapattanam, a city with lot of historical importance. I was feeling tempted to visit the Ranganathittu bird sanctuary here, but time was less and I had to reach Gundlupet, a town I had no idea about.
Mysore : Around 5:45 pm I reached Mysore. I had no intention of entering Mysore, so took the bypass. I took a small break there. When I started my bike again I found the speedometer is not working. I knew the problem, the cable must have got cut. I drove to a local repair shop where a kid, named Mehaboob, was working. But he didn't have the wire to replace the broken one. So he came with me and we searched a number of shops in Mysore before we finally got the wire. I thanked the boy from my heart. I was very impressed with his help. At around 7 pm I started from Mysore.
Gundlupet : I inquired about the road before starting and received couple of local advices that its better to reach Gundlupte as early as possible. That meant, I had to drive steady and cover the 58 kms distance within an hour. I was not happy to know that. It was already dark and the road was spotted with pot holes. NH 212. This is the road that I would be driving on until next day afternoon. Although I was hitting the pot holes more frequently than not, I tried to maintain a speed of 70 kmh. Head lights of the vehicles coming from other side were mercilessly challenging my visibility. The drive was bit risky, but I had to do it to reach Gundlupet in time. After about an hour of drive from Mysore, I was pleased to see the milestone, "Gundlupet 1 km".
I thought Gundluplet will be some small village. But it came out to be a small town with all basic facilities present. Before actually hitting the town, I saw couple of hotels and motels on both sides of the road. I found a Karnataka Government approved "Ganga Yatri Nivas" and slipped myself into one of its double bedrooms (With TV, wow!) at mere 200 rupees a night. The room was big and clean. I started the TV, increased the volume and dropped myself on the bed. After some time I went to a local restaurant and enjoyed a nice non-veg meal. The chicken tikka was sooo good. After the dinner, the first thing I did was to call home and tell everyone that I am alive and safe. Not sure when I closed my eyes and delved into deep sleep. But before that I made sure that I have put the alarm for 5, morning.
Learnings of the Day :
Bandipur : Around 5 am, I woke-up by the mobile alarm. Quickly packed all scattered things and got ready for a very long day. First I tied the bag firmly on the back seat. The watchman of the Yatri Nivas helped me. In return, I had to help him with some money. Around 6:30 am, and it was time to say bye to Gundlupet.The Beginning : It was early morning. I arranged all my stuffs in a big hand bag. The hand bag, because of its wide shape, fits properly on the back seat of the bike. This is the one I used on my Leh trip also, without any trouble. I was selective in choosing things to carry. You can't afford a heavy luggage on such a trip. But important things I took were a bike tool kit and an extra clutch cable. Another very important component of the package was a huge south India map.
The plan was to start around 2 pm, from office. It got delayed slightly as I had some work in office. Also I was revising my tour plan using Google Earth. By 2:30 pm I was on road. I didn't tie the bag to the bike. Instead, just rested it on the back seat and passed the belt through my chest for some support. Not a very good idea for a long trip, but I just wanted to manage the first day.
From my office on Airport Road, it took me one hour to hit Mysore Road. It was 3:30 pm, just the beginning of the journey and I was already tired of maneuvering through the Bangalore traffic. But that went away quickly as I came out of Bangalore.
Mysore Road (SH 17) : Its a beautiful road. Wide and flat. Gifted with beautiful village setups on both sides. Before I could realize, my pulsar reached the speed of 80 kmh. I continued at that speed. As I swiped my bike through the villages, smooth and fast, as I left the snail pace vehicles behind, as I opened myself to the hard blowing wind, I started feeling a kind of freshness in me. But said that, I was concentrating hard on the road. One can not afford out of control driving on such a long trip, specially when he is alone. Around 5 pm I crossed the "Sugar City Mandya". Soon after, I was in Srirangapattanam, a city with lot of historical importance. I was feeling tempted to visit the Ranganathittu bird sanctuary here, but time was less and I had to reach Gundlupet, a town I had no idea about.
Mysore : Around 5:45 pm I reached Mysore. I had no intention of entering Mysore, so took the bypass. I took a small break there. When I started my bike again I found the speedometer is not working. I knew the problem, the cable must have got cut. I drove to a local repair shop where a kid, named Mehaboob, was working. But he didn't have the wire to replace the broken one. So he came with me and we searched a number of shops in Mysore before we finally got the wire. I thanked the boy from my heart. I was very impressed with his help. At around 7 pm I started from Mysore.
Gundlupet : I inquired about the road before starting and received couple of local advices that its better to reach Gundlupte as early as possible. That meant, I had to drive steady and cover the 58 kms distance within an hour. I was not happy to know that. It was already dark and the road was spotted with pot holes. NH 212. This is the road that I would be driving on until next day afternoon. Although I was hitting the pot holes more frequently than not, I tried to maintain a speed of 70 kmh. Head lights of the vehicles coming from other side were mercilessly challenging my visibility. The drive was bit risky, but I had to do it to reach Gundlupet in time. After about an hour of drive from Mysore, I was pleased to see the milestone, "Gundlupet 1 km".
I thought Gundluplet will be some small village. But it came out to be a small town with all basic facilities present. Before actually hitting the town, I saw couple of hotels and motels on both sides of the road. I found a Karnataka Government approved "Ganga Yatri Nivas" and slipped myself into one of its double bedrooms (With TV, wow!) at mere 200 rupees a night. The room was big and clean. I started the TV, increased the volume and dropped myself on the bed. After some time I went to a local restaurant and enjoyed a nice non-veg meal. The chicken tikka was sooo good. After the dinner, the first thing I did was to call home and tell everyone that I am alive and safe. Not sure when I closed my eyes and delved into deep sleep. But before that I made sure that I have put the alarm for 5, morning.
Learnings of the Day :
- Sate Highways are better than National Highways.
- Gundlupet is a town.
Day 2 : KERALA (8th Nov)
Around a kilometer from the Yatri Nivas, just after the Gundlupet check-post, I found a road branching to the right. This was my path, NH 212. The other branch continues to Ooty. It was a foggy morning. With only a tee and a jacket on, I started feeling cold. Around ten minutes later I entered the Bandipur national park. The road through the park was narrow and pitch black. With no pot-holes anywhere and sparse traffic, it was a perfect condition for a cruise. Both sides of the road were covered with dense forest. In that morning light, with fogs everywhere, the forest looked haunted. I was eager to meet some wild animals on the way, as promised by some of the road side hoardings, but had no luck. The ride through the jungle was a very memorable experience.
Wayanad : Just after Bandipur, the road entered Kerala. The change of landscape from Karnataka to Kerala was very dramatic. In matter of minutes, serene villages gave way for bustling, populated small size towns separated by occasional jungles. Faced some traffic jams at the check-posts because of huge number of trucks entering Kerala. At around 8 am I crossed Sultan Batheri. A small regular Wayanad town which looked to be densely populated. The road started taking twists a and turns. Occasional patches of tea gardens started showing their faces on the road side. No matter where you see them, tea gardens always make a beautiful view.
My stomach started crying for breakfast, so I stopped in front of one pure mallu hotel and had some nice dosa and mutta (Egg) curry. I love the Kerala style mutta curry. It is rich in onions and their traditional spices which give it a very distinct flavor.
I cruised through the beautiful city of Kalpetta. There were lot of waterfalls and temples in this area, with just few kilometers aberrations from the main road. But I had some other plans.
Pookot Lake : Just after crossing Vythiri resort (I think this is the most popular resort in Wayanad, I came here once from college) I saw the sign board telling, "Pookot Lake, 500 mts". It was indicating to a narrow road going to the right. Visiting Pookot lake was part of my plan from the beginning. This is not only a beautiful lake, this has lot of my college time memories associated.
Entrance to the lake is through a park where you need to pay for buying a ticket. They maintain the lake and also provide boating facility for the visitors. I parked my bike outside the park, along with the bag. In Kerala, and only in Kerala, you can leave your luggage like this.
Its a medium sized lake. What I find so distinct in this lake is the wild surrounding. Standing on the bank, I felt as if I am deep inside a dense jungle. I decided to take a walk around the lake following the narrow path surrounding it. It was 9 am and the lake was empty. I used this opportunity to practice some photography. There were lots of wild flowers both in the jungle and on the water. I tried some macro photography on them. The defused light of the foggy morning was of great help. I also shot the water from various angles. After spending around one hour on the lake side, I came out and started the next part of my journey. I had to reach Calicut before 12 noon.
Calicut : The descent from Wayanad hills was steep and fast. This was very much in contrast with the ascent, which I almost could not feel until I saw the tea gardens. In quick successions I crossed innumerable hairpin bands and spectacular view points. Couple of minutes later I was on the plains, leaving the Wayanad hills behind, like one big wall. Soon I crossed the Kunnamangalam junction. My college (NIT Calicut) is just fifteen minutes bus journey from here. I had a cup of tea here in a shop which I visited number of times while in college. I wanted to visit my college once, but time didn't permit me. I also spent few minutes in Calicut Medical College junction. In those college days, we used to come here after playing inter college cricket matches and used to discuss about the day's match, for hours.
When I reached Calicut, it was time for lunch. I decided to go to Paragon, a restaurant I used to frequent. To my disappointment I found the food quality has degraded considerably. The hotel management also appeared to have changed. Nevertheless, I took a heavy lunch since I knew the next stretch is going to be the longest so far.
NH 17 : I had to finish Calicut to Cochin ride in a single stretch. Its a good 200 kms distance. With an average speed of 50 kms, I could reach Cochin by 5 pm. But average speed of 50 kms looked to be a tough task on Kerala roads.
Through the bypass I took NH 17. NH 17 runs right through the heart of Kerala, till Cochin, and represents a typical Kerala road. It was mostly free of pot holes but quite narrow and continuously busy. Yes it was "continuously" busy. For my BTech, I have spent four years of my life in Kerala, but never realized this. NH 17 is accompanied with innumerable number of small towns. One town ends and another starts, making it very difficult to find even a hundred meter distance free of population. The only good aspects were the presence of the greenery, no matter where I was, and the frequently appearing bridges over the small rivers, which were coming as beautiful respites from the crowded towns.
Guruvayur : Soon the weather became hot and the ride became monotonous. This was the first time I felt, "When will the road end?". Road quality degraded dramatically as I approached Ponnani. Near Ponnani the national highway took the shape of a "national gali". To save some kilometers, I avoided Trishur and decided to take the Guruvayur path. This came out to be a very wise decision since I not only saved some distance but was lucky to get glimpses of a ongoing Guruvayur festival. Around six or seven highly ornamented elephants were marching together following a group of priests. Some local band was playing traditional spiritual music. I stopped my bike and took some photos of the elephants. I have never seen so many elephants together before. As I crossed the crowd, I found some more similar possessions moving towards the temple.
Cochin : Around 4:30 pm, when the air started becoming slightly cool, I reached a place called Paravur. From here a road goes to the left, directly to Aluva. Cochin was on the straight route. I stopped there and had puri sabji in one restaurant. Cochin was around half an hour drive from there, but I had to take the bypass and go to Tripunetra. Tripunetra, just 5-6 kms from Cochin, is the place where my aunt stays and that was my destination. The main road was blocked due to some repair work and I had to take some other route which was a very confusing one. After a seemingly non ending loop of "Take left then right and then ask", finally I reached my aunt's home at around 6 pm.
It was home. Finally!
I was received by my aunt, cousin brothers and sister among huge cheers. Knowing how tired I was, uncle did not complain on why I did not inform them earlier that I was coming on bike. Although he mentioned how worried they were about me, whole day, after knowing this from my parents. It was love all around. An eventful day ended with a beautiful dinner from my aunty, followed by a sound sleep.
Learnings of the day :
- Entire Kerala is a single BIG town.
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8 comments:
Excellent man! Keep up the spirits! Its always what we do differently that lingers all through our lives :)
Felt really great to read your blog!!
A very well written and detailed travelogue......very delightful to read especially the emphasis on the finer details
Nicely written!!!Fotos are really nice.
Yes exactly, in some moments I can reveal that I agree with you, but you may be making allowance for other options.
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