BOP Bangalore Chronicles: The Munnar Macarenas ride (Part III)

DAY 3 (Munnar to Coimbatore)

We had earlier toyed with the idea of spending the whole day at Zina Cottage and covering the 500 kms back to Bangalore on Sunday. But we remembered the ride under the sun and we switched back to our original plan of starting off from Munnar in the afternoon and spending the night in Coimbatore. We would thus have only a comfortable 350 kms to cover on the final day. We got up late and took a leisurely walk through the surrounding tea estates. Fagu and Sheshank started off before me, so I explored the area alone. I sat on a comfortable rock and let my mind wander for a while. The soothingly warm sun, the gentle, cool wind and the vast expanse of green, neatly arranged in grids, were all hypnotic and I spent quite some time on that rock. I almost forgot that I was mindlessly twirling a stick until a local passed by me, looking at me strangely. That broke the spell and I walked back to the cottage, as the hunger pangs started.

Breakfast consisted of simple toast, jam, omelette and tea. I had laid out all my rain-soaked gear and clothes out in the sun to dry. There were a bunch of foreigners in the other rooms who greeted us, but left us to our own devices. Velu, the cottage caretaker, shuttled up and down the dirt track in a Bajaj auto, of all the vehicles in the world. He took it up a steep, stony slope near the cottage and I was pretty sure that he could manage the off-road track to Kolukkumalai without breaking a sweat. The auto was apparently 12 years old and barely required any maintenance. He pointed out that the fancy Piaggio autos that dominated the roads would require a lot more maintenance if they are made to endure similar abuse. That tells you a lot about the toughness of classic Indian automobiles. 

We checked out and cleared our rooms, sharp at 11 am (the check out time). We, however, lounged around in the gazebo and the lawn for another hour. The plan was to start off at 2.30 pm, but at around 1, Velu informed us that it could rain any time. We immediately loaded our bikes and went downhill to the Kanan Devan Hills clubhouse for lunch. Fagu informed us that it was quite famous.

Interestingly though, the clubhouse was virtually empty. There were living quarters, but the canteen was abandoned. It did look like it had seen better days in the bygone era. But presently, it resembled an old widow dressed in her bride's gown, waiting patiently for her long-dead groom. The chairs were brand new but unused. One of the staff took our orders, prepared the food in limited quantities and served it to us. It was good food, but didn't stand out. The sambhar, however, was excellent. During the meal, Fagu dropped a bombshell. Apparently, he mistook this clubhouse for another; the famous club he read about was another one, costlier and livelier. No regrets though, eating in that empty canteen made me feel like the protagonist in one of Ruskin Bond's short stories. Fagu is an adventurous spirit and asked for ice-cream at the end of the meal. This bright pink ice-cream was apparently very creamy. I gave it a pass. 

The ride to Coimbatore was very pleasant for the most part. We couldn't have timed it better. The hottest part of the day was spent cruising down the ghats and by the time we reached the plains, the cool evening breeze had started. We only faced heavy traffic 50 kms before Coimbatore. We rode on stoically and reached our hotel at around 8.30 pm. We upgraded to the AC room at the last moment. I jumped into the bath immediately, while Fagu and Sheshank entertained themselves watching Arnab Goswami, getting his ass kicked by Raj Thackeray. 

Sheshank told us about a famous food stall in the city and we set off in an auto (none of us were in a mood to ride again in the night traffic) for dinner. The place, however,  was closed. We came upon a busy restaurant called Delhiwala. I went in to order the food, while Fagu and Sheshank went ahead to a bar called 18+ for buying booze. I sat at an empty table and was about to order for all 3 of us, when the waiter informed me they had '3G service'. He elaborated, telling me that the service is very fast and that I should wait for my friends, lest the food go cold. I took his advice and waited for the others. They turned up looking very happy. 18+ is apparently open till 12 am and serves amazingly cold beer. We ordered for the food and as the waiter said, the food appeared on our tables in 5-7 mins. The food was par excellence. You may say that I am exaggerating, but the food was actually better than the 'real' Delhi food. Who would expect that this place, tucked deep inside Coimbatore, would serve such delicious North Indian food! I ate till I could eat no more and we set off towards 18+.

18+ was the next best-decision of the day. The bar is a tad shady, but the interiors are well designed. They charged Rs 200 per beer. That's pricey, you would say. But not when you lay eyes on the array of snacks that are served alongside. With each chilled beer you order, you get a different plate of snacks- pakodas,cucumber slices, peanuts, different types of namkeen, masala papad, etc. Everything is laid before you with each serving of beer. Fagu decided to test their magnanimity by asking for another masala papad 15 minutes before closing time. The waiter served this without complaint, but we soon realized why. The cook was very liberal with the use of chillies now and Fagu turned into Darth Vader, breathing in and out heavily to cool down his tongue. I was quite convinced that another order for masala papad would cause the cook to send us a plate of Bhut Jolokia sprinkled on some papad. We finished drinking and headed back to the hotel for a night of peaceful sleep.

DAY 4 (Coimbatore to Bangalore)

We started off at 5.20 am from Coimbatore. It was smooth riding all the way. The roads are very smooth and we were able to cover the distance easily. The ride back was more or less uneventful. Lunch was at McDonalds, where I chatted with a guy from Munnar, settled in Bangalore, who had ridden to his hometown recently on his Karizma. It's always good to chat up with other riders. You feel like you are part of a large, secret community with shared experiences and stories.

We reached Bangalore at 2 pm and had a post-ride celebratory beer at a bar near my place, a fitting end to a superb ride!


I'd like to sign off with a general observation about bike rides. I've done a majority of leisure travelling on my bike and I have discovered that there are generally two kinds of rides. One, where the destination is more important and the other, where the ride is more important. Note that I said 'MORE' important. I enjoy both equally, but I've noticed that a lot of riders have a strong preference for one of either. My Kannur and Agumbe rides were of the latter type, where we took everything at a leisurely pace. We stopped very frequently on the way- a stream behind a tea-shop, a pond, a museum, etc. The destination had to be reached, but more important was having fun on the way. This ride is of the former type- disciplined riding, so that we could make the most of a beautiful destination in a very limited time-frame. Kudos to Fagu for his meticulous research about the destination that helped make this ride a grand success.

Until next time....

Cheers and JAI BoP! 

BOP Bangalore Chronicles: The Munnar Macarenas ride (Part II)

DAY 2 (Munnar to Kolukkumalai and back)

We all got up at around 10 am. Two decisions were made immediately. Firstly, we'd change the hotel. We had taken this out of compulsion, the room was livable but did not warrant the price. The second decision was to visit Kolukkumalai. Both decisions had a significant, positive impact on the whole trip.

After some research, Fagu discovered the Zina Cottage, halfway up a hill and in the middle of a tea estate. He immediately called and booked a room for the 3 of us. We checked out of this hotel and started searching for Zina Cottage. As I said, it is on a small hill and there is an off-roading patch that you have to negotiate to reach the place. It is a quaint little spot, with an old world charm to it. It overlooks a vast expanse of greenery and was surrounded by tea plantations. The caretaker, Velu, an unassuming, friendly young man showed us our rooms. We fell in love with the place immediately. But we didn't have time to muse about the beauty of this place. After dumping all our luggage, we set off towards Rapsy Restaurant for brunch.

Fagu had visited Munnar before and raved about Rapsy all the time. The place seemed to attract a healthy mix of hippy, European crowd and Indian tourists. I asked for a Spanish omelette since the ingredients looked interesting. It arrived very late, probably because the preparation of this dish takes time. It is quite a thick omelette and is filled with potatoes. It was decent and filling, but I think it could have been made better. I finished my brunch as soon as possible and we started searching for a mechanic. Both Fagu and Sheshank had minor repairs to get done: the Mach's rear left crash guard was hanging loose and the Electra's taillight assembly was on the verge of falling off. Repairs done, we immediately left post-haste for Kolukkumalai.

Kolukkumalai is the world's highest tea estate. Along with the plantations, they have a tea factory. Due to the height at which the tea leaves are picked (almost 8000 ft above sea level), the taste you get is very unique. It is around 35 kms from Munnar and the last 9-10 kms is pure off-roading. Jeeps regularly ferry tourists from Suryanelli to the factory and back, but we had other ideas. We had done a bit of research and realized that the off-roading track is difficult but doable on bikes. Without a second thought, we plunged into the track. It started drizzling slightly, so we put on our rain gear. 

The track is quite different from the off-roading I've done till date. It basically consists of small to medium sized stones that are loosely packed together. When you're on the bike, you move by jumping from one stone to the next. A whole lot of them slip underneath the tires, but we were able to finish the whole stretch without anyone falling. Initially, it is exciting, but afterwards, the continuous bone-jarring bumps irritate you. The frustration is what sees you through the last few kilometers. In the middle, the drizzle turned into rain. The jeeps stopped but we continued. Things like rain and mist are just minor irritants for BOPians, you see. 

We reached the factory finally, just as the rain was stopping. We first had some tea, before going to see the factory. I am not a tea connoisseur and I am usually clueless about the subtle differences between various types. This tea, however, had class in it. I had it black, to taste the real flavour and I found it amazing. I'll leave the rest of the details to someone more knowledgeable than me, lest I say something wrong. The factory is also very old and we got to see the workings of various machines. We realized that one type of tea is called BOP- Broken Orange Pekoe. Our club inadvertently left its mark here also!

 The rain had stopped by now, but it was an hour away from sunset and we quickly consumed another cup of the fantastic tea before starting the ride downhill. Surprisingly, the ride downhill seemed shorter. Perhaps we got used to the track. The mind can play the strangest tricks. We made short work of the remaining 25 kms to Munnar. 

Dinner was at a place recommended by Lonely Planet, called Silver Spoon. It is hidden deep inside the basement of a shopping complex. Once again, the food was fabulous. If you visit this place sometime, do try out the peas masala curry. It is a simple dish, but I've never had such delicious peas masala in any Kerala-cuisine restaurant before. 

This night's BBB session was to be a unique one. Our Delhi chapter was also riding to Deoban on the same dates. Unfortunately, a spate of last minute cancellations meant that Dips was the only Deoban Dragunov. He, however, is a one-man army. The sole Dragunov was supposed to have a video-conference BBB with the Macarenas. Dips wasn't carrying a laptop, so the video-conference part was dropped and we chatted for a while with him on the phone. We continued with our BBB afterwards, discussing in some detail about the taming of wild elephants, before turning in for the night.

(to be continued....)

BOP Bangalore Chronicles: The Munnar Macarenas ride (Part I)

BOP Bangalore completed another fantastic ride! I can't think of a better introduction, so here we go.

Dates: 17-20 April, 2014

Places covered: Munnar, Kolukkumalai and Coimbatore

Routes taken:

Bangalore-Salem-Tiruppur-Udumalpet-Munnar (while going)

Munnar-Pollachi-Coimbatore-Salem-Bangalore (on the way back)

Riders:

1. Phalgun Reddy: Royal Enfield Machismo 500
2. Sheshank Reddy: Royal Enfield Electra 5S
3. Krishnatreya Brindavanam: Royal Enfield Electra Twinspark

Total distance traversed: 1113 kms

DAY 1 (Bangalore to Munnar)

We weren't able to indulge in the pre-ride ritual of drinking together on the night before a ride, but I did have a few drinks with my colleagues in office. I prepared for the ride by listening to some catchy item-numbers. Singing helps keep me awake and I usually run out of songs to sing a few hours into the ride; thus, I created this mental catalogue of songs!

We started at 5.15 am from the Silk Board Junction. Because we had to cover 500 kms in one day, we decided to strictly stick to 100 km-pitstop schedule. We made some good progress, even with the sun beating on our heads. The key to avoid getting fried was to continue riding. This serves two purposes: you get closer to the destination, obviously, and also the warm wind is very pleasant. By lunch-time, we had covered 300+ kms and couldn't really go on. We came across an AC restaurant called Bheema's Restaurant and went in, just to escape from the heat. The food was decent, but the focus was on the cold beer. We spent quite some time here, chatting away and sipping the refreshing beer. But the best part of the ride was ahead of us and we soon left. 

For navigation, we relied on Google maps in Fagu's and Sheshank's iPhones. As we reached Udumalpet, it started to get confusing. The directions being told by the locals weren't matching with those in the maps. As we roamed around in the small town, where we had to "neraa ponga" (go straight) for every destination, we chanced upon a group of off-duty bus drivers. They grouped around us, speaking rapidly in Tamil, calling others to join in and generally creating confusion. I was getting a bad feeling about whatever was happening, but they were actually just trying to help. A couple of them were very enthusiastic and interspersed the directions with questions about our bikes and gear. In the end, it was decided that 2 of them will accompany us till the local bus stand, from where they will guide us. We noticed that Sheshank's bike was leaking oil from the air filter, so the drivers took us to a local mechanic. Turned out that it was just because of the heat. We were emphatically told to ride for 50 kms at a speed of 60 km/hr and then take a half-an-hour break to prevent further problems. We dropped the drivers off and continued with our ride. We still haven't figured out what route we took and what we were supposed to take, but the general consensus is that there was a bit of mis-navigation. Another item ticked off from BOP Ride Must-happens checklist!

We now reached the Annamalai Forest Reserve, at the edge of Tamil Nadu's state border. When you cross the border into Kerala, it becomes Chinnar Forest Reserve. Sheshank was riding ahead of us and he saw that a few cars were waiting in the middle of the road. A herd of elephants was crossing the road at that spot. As the last elephant stepped off the road, one over-enthusiastic Indica driver started off, only to back up again, as the last elephant turned around and charged towards the car. No damage was done though; the elephant was simply up to some mischief. We continued riding through the forest, this time keeping a wary eye out for any more mischievous elephants that decide to play around with metal bulls. 

The sun was setting as the ghat riding started. Before it turned dark, we were able to catch a glimpse of gentle hills covered with tea estates, looking green and vibrant. There were loads of tourists in cars, buses and jeeps and at almost every bend, there would be a group of them clicking pics of the landscape. Fagu would pause at every bend, close to the tourist group and try to see whatever they are looking at in the valley below. He probably didn't want to miss out on whatever they were looking at. Eventually though, the number of weird, startled stares he got from the tourists (multiple) was much more than the number of interesting sights spotted (zero) and he stopped with his ritual. 

I've always avoided night-riding because I've never really enjoyed it. During this ride, I realized that it was partly because of the weak headlight of my old Karizma. The Bullet's headlight is superb, in comparison and I was able to ride without any problems. The roads were well maintained and the traffic was disciplined. The others reached Munnar a few minutes before me. When I reached, we decided to split up. Fagu and Sheshank would scout for a place to stay. Advance bookings had been made using Cleartrip, so they both went off to check the hotels out. I rested for a while and started looking for an alcohol shop, for the night's BBB session. 

I was guided through the town to a government liqour shop. Now this place was unlike any other alcohol shop I've ever seen. There are two counters, one for payment and one for delivery. A heavy iron grill made a very narrow pathway, through which you approach both these counters. Only one person can fit in at a time and there is no turning back. You get into the pathway, make the payment in the first counter, take the alcohol from the second counter and exit. The most surprising aspect, however, was the crowd. ALL of them were standing in a queue! Some were slurring and barely able to stand, but they still stood in queue. Never have I seen such discipline at any theka in Noida, Delhi or Bangalore. I bought a bottle of 8 PM whisky. As it regularly happens, I made a fool of myself as I got stuck between the grill and counters due to my huge bag and arm-guards. I was getting panicky, as the people behind me and shop staff got impatient. Finally, a kind soul helped me out of the mess. I flashed him an embarrassed smile-thanks and went back to the town bazaar to wait for news from Fagu and Sheshank. 

The Cleartrip booking hadn't worked out  and there were no rooms vacant anywhere, except in one hotel. It was a tad pricey, but we didn't have the patience to search for anything else. We freshened up in the room and stepped out for dinner. There were only 3 places open at this time (9 pm). We walked into one of them, but the waiter was more intent on leaving for home and informed us that most of the dishes on the menu weren't available. We weren't keen on having Chinese food in a Kerala restaurant and walked out. We then went to the second hotel, called Sri Mahaveer. It was all empty and we expected another disappointment. Far from it. The waiter was extremely courteous and hospitable. Everything on the menu was available. Our arrival and subsequent orders spurred activity in the kitchen and we were soon digging into some very delicious food. I had a Gujarati thaali and it was fabulous. We returned to our rooms and realized we were too tired to do anything. We, however, drank a few pegs, discussed the day's ride and made tentative plans for the next day before going off to sleep.


(to be continued....)